8/7/12 Misha and friends, late teens.
Today I'm driving
across Wisconsin on Interstate 94. I
happened upon a preacher on a Christian radio station and listened for
awhile. Among other things he spoke
about the short parable of the wide and narrow roads that Jesus described in
Matthew 7 - "For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But
small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find
it." The Interstate sure feels
like the wide road as I'm swept along with the current of cars and trucks and
humanity, all in a hurry, jockeying for position, taking the shortest and
easiest route but missing all the beautiful scenery along the way. I stopped at a rest area, where I found a
group of teenagers gathered around a picnic table for a smoke. I gave them some million dollar gospel tracks
which helped start a conversation. They
had all moved to Chicago from the Ukraine about three years ago and were on
their way to the Wisconsin Dells. They
had all been raised Catholic in the Ukraine and continue to attend a Catholic
church in Chicago. They all agreed with
one of them, Misha, that if they are good enough they will go to heaven. Their English was a bit halting and no one
really expressed any questions or differing opinions, so I just explained the
message of law and grace on the back of the tracts I had given them. Since they were sort of shy I applied the "good
person" questions to myself rather than asking for a volunteer. Jesus' parable was still on my mind, so I
finished by telling them about it - "Most people believe they are good
enough for heaven, but Jesus warned us that many are on the road to
destruction. I'm just here to give you a
friendly warning to get on the right road that leads to life" It occurs to me that we all start out on the
road to destruction, that before belief in Jesus we were already condemned
according to John 3:18 - "...whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only
Son." Does this mean that most will
end up in hell? I sure hope not. I do know that its not too late for Misha and
his friends to get on the right road. Will
you pray that they will?
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