Dover Center and Lorain in North Olmsted - 3/05/10

Today was my first day back on the street since January. It was in the mid to upper 30's yesterday and it is amazing how warm that feels when you go through winter in Northeast Ohio! I was out today from about 2:15 to 3:15.

Shortly after arriving, a young woman came up on the sidewalk and looked at the cross and wanted to know more about it. Her name was Alex. She asked me what Mark 1:15 was and I quoted it to her. She told me she had heard things about the Old Testament and the New Testament and she seemed to be a little confused about it. She told me she grew up Christian and was was currently "experimenting."

I asked her if she thought of herself as a good person, and she replied, "For the most part." We went through the law and she admitted that God would find her guilty, but she started to say, "but if I go and confess..."

I said, "Now wait, if you are guilty, should he send you to heaven or hell?"

She replied, "I think that's up to Him.. it depends."

I brought up an example of her breaking the law here on earth and that the law needs to be satisfied- that her confession isn't going to get her off the hook.

"So he should send you to hell."

She replied, "So, He's like the ultimate sheriff."

I asked her if she knew what Jesus did, and she replied, "He died on the cross."

At this point I started to stumble over my thoughts a bit but still managed to explain imputed righteousness to her, our need for repentance, and how we must trust in Jesus like a parachute. It's been a while since I've had any witnessing conversations (from not being on the streets plus the streets drying up from the cold even when I was out) and I realized I should listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret and True and False Conversion again to brush up on my witnessing analogies.

I gave Alex a million dollar bill and encouraged her to read the tract and check out the website listed on the tract. I was able to hand out 9 tracts yesterday, including the one I gave to Alex. I gave some tracts to some younger guys walking by on the sidewalk and one mentioned, "I have a Michael Jackson one."