Lunch is a good thing. A long lunch is a great thing if you can work it into your schedule. Well, I got to work in a lunch in the other day, and it ended up being one of those three-hour lunches!
Life Isn’t Over
Andrew got a hold of me and wanted to chat. I met him a couple of years earlier at a pizza joint that I go to. He was recently released from jail and wanted to talk about life.
One thing I mentioned to him, and I mention it to a lot of folks who have been in jail, is that Jesus will never look down on someone because they have been incarcerated. They are always fascinated by that statement. Never forget that Jesus was arrested and many of his disciples were arrested.
Paul wrote Philippians from jail, and people to this day are still arrested for their faith. It is not that big a deal. Now, the world will typically look down on someone who has been arrested, but I don’t think God does.
The key is to be forgiven for whatever it was that caused you to get arrested.
Well, let me tell you something: Andrew is on the right track! Praise ye the Lord!! He has become serious about Jesus. He had plenty of time to read the Bible and make sure he was born again while he was in jail. He is out now and is going to a solid church. He is friends with an 80-year-old man who is investing Jesus into his life. He is also living with his grandparents to keep away from the bad influences in life. Thank goodness for grandparents who play such a godly role in their family’s lineage!
1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Bad company always corrupts good character. Who you hang with is who you become. Andrew and I talked a lot about that. Sometimes in life, one of the best things you will ever do is get rid of toxic friends. And, of course, one of the keys is to make sure you are not a toxic influence in other people’s lives, so they won’t want to dump you. We sure got through a lot of Scripture during those three hours. Always have your Bible handy.
Please say a prayer for Andrew to stay on the narrow road as he continues this journey.
Another Stop
I was on a different side of town, so I decided to hit a coffee shop. Got into a neat conversation with two sophomores in college. When you chat with college students in a coffee shop, either they are hunkered down and trying to get some work done on their laptops, or they really want a break and want nothing to do with school things! You just have to find out which mode they’re in.
I met Dan, who grew up in a Christian home and has walked away from Christianity, but recently, he has been thinking about all of it again. Sho, another guy in the coffee shop, didn’t grow up that way, but was very open. We had a neat give-and-take. They both loved to read. Dan even wants to open a bookshop one day! As we were chatting, Josh walked by, shook hands, and said hello to Sho.
Who is Josh? Well, Josh is a barista there. But he is so much more than a barista. He is a man of God who shares his faith. He let me know later that he had witnessed to Sho about a week earlier. All I was doing was watering the seed Josh had planted in his life.
At the end, we all shook hands, and Sho looked at me and said, “Thanks for the conversation.” Remember that conversations are valuable. You can’t put a price tag on them. Might as well go and have one of them today!
Hungry Again
It was now a little past dinner time, and I got hungry again! Seems to be the story of my life! It was pouring down rain. I decided to try a place nearby that I knew wouldn’t be too busy because of the weather.
Edy was my waiter there. Now, I had met him in a coffee shop about a year earlier. I asked him a question about his t-shirt and, then, we were off and rolling! Remember to use t-shirts, necklaces, jewelry, tattoos, and even stickers on the backs of people’s laptops to get into conversations. Anything that gets you started is what you are looking for. Edy is 20 and very strong in his faith—like serious about it. Good parents and good schooling can make for a very solid 20-year-old man of God.
As he was at my table, another waiter walked by to shake his hand and say goodbye because he was heading home. Business was a little slow because of the weather, so I pulled out a booklet and put a blessing in there for him. Told him Jesus said it was more blessed to give than receive and to enjoy the information in the booklet. I knew they weren’t making much on tips that evening, and everyone has bills to pay.
Four or five minutes later, that same waiter, Victor, walked back over to my table. He stated that he was talking with Alex, the manager, who told him that I was a guy who talked with people about the topic of God and helped to answer their questions. Well, I guess that isn’t a bad reputation to have! So, I motioned for Victor to have a seat, and he did.
Wow. What a give-and-take. He was 19 and had an interesting home life. He grew up Catholic, and Catholicism was not answering any of his questions. He was very concerned about all of the molestation by priests.
As we were talking, Edy kept checking on my table. He would pop into the conversation here and there. Man, he sure added some good points that I wasn’t thinking of. I am so glad this 20-year-old man of God was there that day.
The thing is that Victor had some really good questions. And what we have to remember is that Josh, Edy, you, and I all have good answers for those questions. We just have to get into those conversations and let the Lord lead.
1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Then another waiter, David, came over and got involved in the conversation. Later, Edy told me that during his time working there, he thought that Victor and David had the most potential for getting saved. He was utterly amazed that those were the two people who were getting into the conversation with him and me that evening.
Then David asked me an interesting question, “What is one piece of advice you would give me at my age?’” He is 20. I told him that was easy. Get the eternal question figured out. Find out who Jesus is. If you do, it will give you great direction as you get through this life. If you don’t, then you will do as I see many others do—meander all over the place because they never figure out what their purpose is.
1 Corinthians 3:6-8
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
What Does the Bible Say?
All I did was water the seeds that Edy had planted. My job was SO much easier because Edy had followed the command of the Bible to seek and to save those who are lost.
Luke 19:10
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Because of Edy’s obedience, it was much easier for me to go deeper with these guys during our conversation.
Toward the end, as I was getting ready to leave, Alex, the manager came over. I didn’t recognize him at all! How he could have known that I talk to people about God was beyond me. So I just asked him if we had met before. He told me that I was in there a couple of years ago, and I had given out some tracts to the workers. Funny thing is that it wasn’t even one of the tracts we have produced! If I go back to the same establishment a few times, all of them already have my materials. So I need to make sure I am loaded up with some other things to hand them.
I have been using some tracts from https://bibletruthpublishers.com/, and they are easy to hand out.
As a matter of fact, I don’t even think I handed Alex a tract. Sometimes I will hand one of the guys six or seven tracts and tell him to bless the other workers. But somehow, I have that reputation in Alex’s mind. Toward the end of our brief chat, I went to give him a booklet, but he didn’t want it. He wanted a One Heartbeat Away book instead. I actually saw him walking in the restaurant later reading the book as he walked.
What a day! It was an Obey Day. Read your Bible, obey what it says, and it will lead to some very fascinating days in your near future!
Until the nets are full,
P.S. CPI stands for Consumer Price Index. These numbers are crazy. Vote correctly in November.
P.P.S. Remember if they will take away your rights at the State Level, they will definitely take away your rights at the Federal Level.
https://x.com/ScottGreenfield/status/1836455774307938743
P.P.P.S. Was George Carlin correct here? I totally believe he was. If you do some basic QEQE: Question Everything and Question Everybody, you will see he is correct. We really need to do much more research than just watching talking heads or reading headlines.
But George made a major, eternal mistake with his life. He was an atheist who never got saved. Yes, his quote is correct, but he is now like the rich man in hell from Luke 16.
Get out there and vote to support a biblical agenda, but don’t make the same mistake George did.
