The Everyday Club

01/15/10 A.J. about 30
On my way home from work today I stopped at a Burger King and gave a smile and million dollar tract to everyone seated at the tables there. I ended up at the table of A.J., a beer truck driver, and we talked for quite a while. I think giving multiple tracts out and then staying to talk with at least one person helps the rest to take the tracts seriously. . Many people won't look at a tract once they realize it is religious, so I'm hoping this personal touch will help them to be curious enough to read it. A.J. grew up in a Pentecostal church and still attends regularly, yet said he doesn't know about life after death and tries not to think about it. He is upset about the state of this world, such as the earthquake crisis in Haiti, and wonders how God can allow these things to happen. I told him I wonder that myself, and allowed him to vent for a while about various world disasters, the failures of politicians, and conspiracy theories. It was hard to keep from getting sucked into his negativity, but he had a sort of "God owes me" attitude. It wasn't until I used the law to expose his sin and the wrath that God really owes him that A.J. was ready to listen. He gradually warmed up to the gospel, which I assume he had heard countless times in church but didn't seem to comprehend. One point I made that seemed to get through is that maybe all the news of disasters around the world, in our city and even the increase of gray hairs on our head serve as fair warning that our time is limited; in His mercy God is delaying his judgment but won't withhold his wrath forever.(2 Peter 3:8-10)