Sharing

Lily called me up a few days ago. I had not talked to Lily and her family in years. We used to go to the same church but she moved and I moved and … you know how that goes. Well, she said she wanted me to share the gospel to Buddy, a family friend, who is dying in a hospital in downtown L.A.. Of course I was willing to help.

“Buddy is a lifelong atheist but now that he is facing death, he is willing to listen to the gospel,” Lily said, “I’m not good with words so I want you to do this.“

Lily said she would pick me up and bring me to the hospital. The logistics didn’t look good. Lily lives in Santa Clarita. I live in Whittier. The hospital is 60 miles away. That’s a good 3 hour drive one way. I also need to drive to another meeting soon after. But I can see how important this is to Lily. Saving one soul is all important. (Hey, just let me know if you want to talk about the gospel … I’ll make time for you). So I told Lily to skip the driving and do a zoom meeting instead. This meeting will be happening today (Friday) afternoon. Please pray for our conversation.

I am no evangelist. And I’m not that good with words either (I write better than I think on my feet). But I realize that it isn’t words nor the brilliance of logic that saves the lost soul — that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. The Holy Spirit determines who will be saved and who will not. My job is to simply share: We are all sinners and we deserve to go to hell but Jesus Christ intervened and died for our sins because of His love for us. No, we don’t need to work hard or do anything to deserve to go to heaven. No need for long prayers, no need for sacrifice. Simply believing that our hope is in Christ makes us born again; and when we do, the Holy Spirit will enter into our lives and transform us to live as God’s children.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” — Romans 8: 26-27

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is what Christians do. We have a duty and a privilege to share the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Sounds weird, huh? Yeah, I get that all the time but this is who I am and I’m not ashamed of it.

I’m super tired. I need to rest. I need to have a clear mind tomorrow. I grew up Catholic, lost my faith in college, became an atheist, lost my moral values, prayed for God to be real to me and became a born-again Christian in my 30s. Buddy is a younger version of me. This should be interesting.

Yawn — I gotta sleep. TGIF people!

Raoul

“Though the Bible was written over sixteen centuries by at least forty authors, it has one central theme–salvation through faith in Christ.” — Max Lucado

“Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way.” – AW Tozer

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come..” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Parting Shots

Thanks to Maling of New Manila, Philippines

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre. CA

Thanks to Bob of Placencia

I found these

The Traveling Boy

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.

Got any good jokes? Come share it with rest of us!

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Located in the northwest corner of Spain, its coastline overflows with colorful coves, greener than green valleys, and fast running rivers that – on a sunny day like we had when we were there – sparkle as if they were filled with hundreds and thousands of the world’s finest diamonds. One of the most important people on any press trip is the guide. How good, or yes bad, is she/he, and do they give you newsy, thought-provoking information? Ours was, I thought, a real winner.

The bus on which we were traveling in Galicia stopped on the upper reaches of a huge hill – one could hardly call it a mountain – and as the breeze that’d appeared to have come out of nowhere, shrieked around our vehicle in eddying wind whipped gusts, our savvy guide told us, in the best “Get to know the local witches well” voice, “as you’ll NOT want them to cast a spell over you” almost whispered that moments from now, we’d be in a unique village called Santa Tegra.

As promised we rolled into Santa Tegra to be confronted, and almost enveloped, by a vast phalanx of booths, small stands, curio shops (of all shapes and sizes) selling – or trying to – almost everything connected to Spain, history, local crockery, stone ware, toys, gizmos of one sort or another, and enough scarfs, jackets, rings and things, to stock at least 5 huge American shopping Malls. Tucked in amongst all this paraphernalia, there were seemingly never-ending booths and shelves with witch dolls that highlighted how wizardly, wonderful and wicked witches were and, even better if one wanted to purchase one, they conveniently came in sizes small, medium, large, and were “tourist ready” and clothed in almost every sort of dress, outfit, and all in colors you never knew existed. All of us, all at the same time, instantly knew why our tour bus stopped at this precise spot.

Nevertheless, we all – as expected – stood, gawked and rubbernecked at this cauldron of local lore, as our guide informed us that Galicia is known as the Land of Witches. Embellishing this point, he theatrically stated that in olden times when someone was stricken with some sort of deadly disease, the local witch was summoned to cure the illness. Did they know back then, I wondered, if they would one day be a powerful draw for tourists?

I’ll confess, I’m still a real sucker for all this kind of sightseer schmaltz, and sensing this “I’m ready to buy” syndrome, one of the vendors, elderly and frail looking, with a spindly black hat, and wearing her required Witches wardrobe, approached me and pulled out this truly intimidating witch (model, of course, NOT a real one!) seated in a rocking chair and, when wound up, would rock back and forth. Even better, if one clapped one’s hands, she’d let out a blood curdling yell! I purchased it on the spot. As I said, for something offbeat, coupled with an unequalled array of exquisite scenery, check out Spain and, of course, Galicia. You might even say “It’s spellbinding.” Contact John:

jd******@gm***.com

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