The Everyday Club

12/29/10     Lenny, 55
Today I was the chauffeur for my family, dropping them off in downtown Chicago to shop while I waited with the car nearby in Grant Park. While there I gave a million dollar bill gospel tract to a man named Lenny, who was also waiting by his car, telling him it was from my church. "I've been looking for a church" - he told me - "The one I go to is too far away" "What do you look for in a church?" I asked. "I just want to be sure they are preaching the Word" was his answer. I went on to ask about his church history, which is always interesting to hear, not just to get an idea of where people are at with the Lord but how God has orchestrated events in their lives to bring them to faith. In Lenny's case, he was raised in a solid church home but left the faith when he moved to California. After a divorce about five years ago he has begun to attend his mothers church back in Chicago and to check out a few others, only to get turned off by church politics. When I asked what he thought about heaven, he said he believes a loving God won't send people to hell, though if He did he said "'I would be in big trouble". I used the 2nd commandment - against false idols - to help Lenny see he has imagined a "god" he is more comfortable with and explained how a loving God would indeed punish sin. "What kind of God would have no concern about child molesters and murderers?" Then Lenny began to downplay his sin, thinking it wasn't that serious, so I used his prior knowledge of the Garden of Eden to show him that the real problem is our rebellion against God - that no sin, large or small, is acceptable. "Ï guess we just have to believe in God" he said - so I used a parachute analogy to explain what real belief looks like. "It's not enough to say you believe in parachutes when you jump out of a plane, you have to put one on, and in the same way you must 'put on' the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) Lenny had to leave but excitedly asked for info about my church.