5/20/12 Gabriel, about 18
" Preach
the Word; be prepared in season and out of season..." 2 Tim. 4:2 On my way back to my car after an early
morning church meeting, I saw a young man (Gabriel) at the gas station across
the intersection sitting against a fence, looking kind of dejected. I felt my heart go out to him, so I headed
over. I asked him, "Hey, do you
have a minute for an interesting question? He did, so I asked, "What do you think
comes next after this life?" He
turned to look at me, tears in his eyes.
"It's interesting you ask that, I'm
thinking about it a lot. My grandmother
just died Friday." I expressed my condolences
and spent some time just listening and being compassionate. We came to a point in the conversation where
it would have been appropriate to focus on the gospel, but suddenly his sister drove
up. It seemed like they must have been
arguing and she was demanding that he leave with her immediately, so I was
losing my chance to share the Gospel. I
didn't have my usual backpack full of a variety of witnessing literature that I take with on intentional witnessing outings,
but then I remembered I had brought a
few gospel tracts with me "just in case". I normally use tracts more as conversation
starters and I would much rather have a heart to heart conversation, but in
this case I was so glad to have some quality tracts with me. Gabriel took one, thanking me for coming over
to talk with him. Just before he got in
his sister's car he yelled "Is your number in here?" "Yes!" "Great!" and he was gone. I share this as an encouragement to be ready
at all times to share the Gospel, in and out of season. We often fear starting a witnessing
conversation because we don't know if we'll have time to finish it, but having
some good gospel tracts on hand, with our contact information, can help us to
be ready at all times.
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