The Reputation of Christ

[Curios Mike]

Yes This was the conclution I had after the man in the wheel chair, which happened a few years before I was married, the insadent at Mcy D's was about a year or two after I was married. My wife was pregnant so I had others to consider other then myself. LOL Seems the older I get, and the more kids I have the less boldness I have. Storms never scared me no matter how severe, but now if their is any hint of green(For those who dont know when their sky and air gets green and it starts to hail its a sign their is a tornado around or coming) I start swetting and worry about my kids. Boldness and wisdom where the things I prayed for most as a young man, now purity, and knowledge are the things in my prayers.

LOL Like I'm really old now. Anyways yes... I agree and have come to that same conclution I just try not to rely on older or other Christian as much as I used to. Ohhhh by the way, maybe the lady was an angel? The Bible does say we entertain angels unawarely.

[InLove]

The angel thought did cross my mind, especially when she was nowhere to be found when the manager went to look for her.

[Curios Mike]

Soemthing similer happend to me and a friend of mine. The denom we attended was having a big ruckuss over nothing. They even split over it. I'm not goin to say becuase it was totally ridiculous and embarassing. Anyways the denom we attended has a theme park so to speak in the mountians. In this theme park they have the ten commandments on one mountian, and on another they have its doctorines on another mountian. We where reading the doctrine that they where fighting over so passionatly, and this man was walking up the moutnian and turned and saw us. He asked us what we thought. We told him what we thought(LOL I cant remember what we said) I dont think I agree with it, not sure he did or not then but I know he dont now. Fact is his believe system now is way different then where we used to go. But back to the story we answered and turn for just a second to read it again. When we turned back around he was gone. We went up, down and around that mountian and park and never found him. Then we both laughed, and srugged and said "well I gues thats was an encounter of the unaware kind".

[Faithfulservant]

The question InLove posted brought to my mind myself.. When I was first born again I was on fire for Christ.. I wanted everyone to feel what I felt and experience what I experienced.. I was so eager to bring everyone to Christ through any means possible that I didnt stop to ask God what HE wanted. Then my pastor gave a sermon at a crucial time in my spiritual growth that I know was directed at me.. It was humbling.

God determines who is called.. God determines who is saved.. The only job I have is to spread the gospel in a loving manner to those who are ready and willing to hear it. God leads those people to me. It was the case once again of taking God off the throne and putting myself on it... taking the initiative away from God.

Ok so then how do we as Christians attract those who crave that something that I know to be God.

What did Jesus do?

He led by example. He lived a sinless life...He prayed to the Father...He was baptized...He proclaimed Himself a servant to man giving of Himself unto death.. Now its not at all possible for me to lead a sinless life...but I can try to live righteously.. I can let the world see my Light.. I can be truly happy and at peace and tell others the key to that happiness and peace. And do you know that by allowing the others to come to ME asking ME... more have listened with willing ears than all the many times that that I pushed the message on unwilling ears.

Its Spiritual maturity.. God loved me as that excited spirit-filled new believer just as He loves the more spiritually grown me... and He shows me so much more now than He did then...I was in kindergarten..learning how to count and say my ABC's... basically the basics.. now Im into physics and calculus and my knowledge base is growing and He tells me just as much as Im ready to learn.. Im excited.. whats after physics and calculus?

Ok so when I look at people who force the good news of Jesus Christ in a fumbling manner.. its like a kindergartener trying to teach a pre-schooler how to divide or multiply intergers. Its not working.. I attempt to give them advice.. if they take it then its all good if they dont I say a prayer and give it to God.. Trusting that God will do damage control.. after all its in Gods hands anyways.

Right?

[Quahom1]

I learned a simple truth about witnessing. What one has to say is irrelevant at first, because deaf ears cannot hear. But the eyes, the eyes observe everything, with much scrutiny. Even a drunk man's eyes...

You may not think you did anything of constructive purpose Mike, but the fact is you acted (as best you knew how), for the Glory of God. What you determined to be a failure, God considers an absolute and fantastic Victory.

Courageous people are not fearless, they are courageous because they act in spite of their fear.

I believe that as surely as I am breathing, God used that situation for the betterment of all, including you and the drunk man, as well as everyone who witnessed what happened.

Now I'm going to tell you a story. See if you can't count how many people were affected...and don't think for one second that Christ wasn't in the middle of it

I just spent 6 hours from California to Maryland, talking with a South West flight attendant "dead heading" (flying home to Baltimore on the clock, but off duty). We touched on just about everything in life from the war to gay marriages, to God...and that is where we locked in and began discussing philosophy of God at length.

I swear to you, the back third of the plane's passengers were doing everything they could to not look like they were listening in on our conversation.

At one point, she turned to me and said, "There are very few people that can make others want to venture deeper and think outside the box dear, and you are one of those people."

To which I replied with a laugh, "I am outside the box madam, and can't seem to find my way in!"

Then she laughed, then became serious and said, "Don't, it is very very boring."

Outside the airport, a black man with grey/white dreadlocks and Gucci clothes walked by, and I looked at him, smiled and blurted out "Man, I wish I could grow my hair that long." (I never do things like that). He looked startled, then at my uniform, grinned and said, "Ah, but the price you paid not to is worth it sir, at least to me." Then he asked me for directions on how to get to the long term parking lot. But while he did so, his hand was on my shoulder, like a proud father might do to a family member. There was no sense of personal space invasion between either of us.

While in San Diego, I stopped to get gum and a sandwich from a 7-11, when a homeless man approached me (he was Vietnamese, wore a tattered military jacket, about 60 years old and smelled of alcohol). He asked in accented English if I could spare a couple of dollars. At first I started saying I couldn't help him (again I was in uniform), but then something told me I should, and trust that he wouldn't use it for booze. So I said I could help him, and gave a few dollars to him. He then looked at me and said, "I used to be a good soldier once." My heart went into my throat. Had I turned away from him, the damage my actions might have caused to an already fragile life...

I smiled at him, patted his arm and replied, "I know, and you still are, you've just forgotten." I have no idea where that came from, but the affect was immediate. He stood up straight, tugged at his jacket, smiled and said thank you.

Behind him, another Vietnamese (woman) vendor at a trinket stand was watching the both of us very closely, at first with a scowl, which later turned into a bemused grin. As the man walked away, the vendor bowed to me. I nodded my head back and got into the car. From the rear view mirror I watched her watch me drive out of sight, the grin not leaving her face.

While at the small boat conference, during breaks I told "sea stories". Everybody has sea stories, but when I told some of mine, I found self surrounded by the younger sailors, while the older people hung around the fringes. I once berated myself and apologized to the crowd for rambling. They would hear none of it, and pushed me to continue telling tales. The younger ones were like sponges, while the older crowd nodded their heads and smiled secret smiles, while remembering memories of their own...


We, all of us want and need to be counted, to be important to others. We want to matter. We want others to consider us as having worth. And it doesn't take a whole lot to convey to others that they mean something to us. A look, a smile, a conversation, a touch, a story, a positive comment...all more powerful than all the weapons of war man could possibly create. But it only works when applied one on one, or in small groups, and spreads from there. I am only beginning to understand the meaning of life. It is so cool!

And Christ is right there in the thick of it, ecouraging and applauding us to continue on...

That's my story, and i'm stickin' to it.

v/r

Q

[Curios Mike]

Yes that is so true. Never know what a little smile might do. What was someone saying in another topic.... Pay it foward.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Curios Mike

Yes that is so true. Never know what a little smile might do. What was someone saying in another topic.... Pay it foward.

InLove made that point...and I think when we do "pay it forward", we accomplish what God want's us to do, and at the same time "thwart" what that which opposes God want's us to do.

v/r

Q