I Wish I Could Start Today Over

The weather today was beautiful- wall to wall sunshine with not a cloud in the sky and in the upper 70's to low 80's. My wife and I had breakfast this morning and after wards went to Wal-Mart as we always do on Saturdays. After that, we headed over to church to help out with the 2nd annual 2010 Evangelism Boot Camp my pastor was presenting.

I took some pictures and my wife and I assisted cleaning up after the teams headed out for the streets. We then came home and I headed back out to Lakewood with my cross from about 3:30 to 4:45. For dinner, we grilled out at a park on Lake Erie and watched the sun set. We went to Dairy Queen after that and then came home. It was the first weekend I wasn't stressed out about not having a job, as I just started one last Monday. Although it was a busy day, it was a nice day.

Then, around 10:00 PM, the phone rang. It was one of my wife's coworkers. Another coworker's husband had suddenly died today. He was at the prime of his life, about 35 years old. Had I known what was to take place today, I would have gone through this day completely different. My wife and I were even invited to a party that this coworker and her husband attended today but we did not.

While I was out with my cross today, I had a conversation with a man named John. He was happy to see me out on the streets spreading the Gospel. I shared some of the Way of the Master analogies with him and mentioned that 150,000 people die every day, most without knowing Christ. He said that was a good statistic to use- little did I know that my wife's coworker's husband would become a part of that statistic.

I wish I could start today over and go to that party. I would have pleaded with this man to repent of his sins and to place his trust in Jesus Christ for his salvation and would not left until he had. This also makes me reanalyze the way I interact with everyone else in life. Why don't I have this urgency all the time?

God demanded payment to be made for this man's sins today. It is either his soul in hell for eternity or the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. If it is the latter, he will spend eternity with his Savior in heaven. None of us really know for sure of another person's salvation, but I hope the penalty for his sins was already paid for by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus' life's blood.

If you do not know where you are going when you die or you aren't saved, please read "The Message of the Cross" blog post and get right with God today. You may not have tomorrow.

Going Back to Work - 8/20/2010

On Monday, I start a new job at a call center taking inbound customer service calls. This is not what I went to school, but if this is what God wants me to do right now, I will be obedient. Aside from working for the U.S. Census, some very limited side work, and a temporary job that last less than two weeks, this is the only real door that has opened up for me.

I would still like to go out with my cross, but my street evangelism will most likely be limited to the weekends, now. I'm not quite sure where I am headed right now, but I am trying to follow what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3:1-2: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

Dover Center and Detroit in Westlake - 8/16/2010

Yesterday, I returned to a spot I used to frequent a lot but have neglected for the past months as I have hit Lakewood hard: Dover Center and Detroit in Westlake. I have neglected the spots I used to frequent in favor of Lakewood for the past months, but I need to come back to those spots. I didn't hand out any tracts (although I had the opportunity to hand out a few, fear came over me- which it does at times) and was out from 3:45 to 4:45.