Waste of Time

Waste of Time?

To each of you who have commented on Facebook, Twitter and by email, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for your encouraging words in regards to my carrying a cross. My family has been so blessed by your words of support.

 I pray that this post will encourage and help some of you when told the following or something similar.

I will not divulge the whos in this but needless to say I should not have been surprised by the comments. Keep in mind all of the following came from professing

Christians.

Quote 1: "You are wasting your time sitting out in that cold and wind making a fool of yourself with that cross. It will not make a difference."

Quote 2: "Evangelism is only for those who are called and trained."

Quote 3: "You look like and idiot in that picture, take it off the web."

There were a few more but these three are the ones I choose to address here.

To the ones that made the comments. First, I do not respond to such in Direct Messages or Private Messages. I will refrain from telling your user name and or real name but know this. If you would like to state such in open, I will be more than happy to discuss the issue with you.

My response to #1. Do you hunt? The type does not matter, whether it be small game, big game or fowl. Do you fish? Do you go to ball games, of any type. 

What is more foolish, sitting with a cross praying for souls and wanting to proclaim Christ, or any of the a fore mentioned. How much time have any of you spent sitting in the woods or in a stadium, in the cold and in the rain? If so, what do you have to show for it now. Bragging rights, maybe a trophy mount. In 100, 50, 15 or even a year from now, how much of that time will you be able to remember?

I would imagine every person that has been saved from an eternity in Hell, recalls every second of when they were blessed with salvation. To sum up, yes I pray to live out Romans 1:16. Even more, I pray anyone reading this would.

Christ said if you deny Him on Earth He will deny you to the Father. I would rather look like a fool any day of the week "wasting" my time for Christ, than being seen as relevant or wise to the world.

If only more Christians would engage in witnessing and proclaiming Christ, perhaps there would not truly be so much time actually wasted in pursuit of trivial worldy matters. While those activities are relaxing to some and viewed as entertainment by others when they take the place of Jesus Christ, they are your god. 

Response to #2: You are correct. It is called the Great Commission. Jesus commanded all Christians to go into the world and make disciples. This is only done by first sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, if you are a truly born again Christian. You received your calling the moment you put your Trust in Christ and submitted to him and in such agreed to obey. We don't only obey what we are comfortable with or only what we want to obey. Christ requires it all. We are commanded to Go, this is an action word. It translates and literally means. GO!

Response #3: Nope. Get over it. If you don't like the picture of me fine. If you don't like the cross, you have bigger problems and larger issues than me sitting there with it.

I hate to think that some who call themselves "Christian" for whatever reason, imply the following was a waste of time. Christ came to seek and save the lost. Sharing His gospel is among other things, meant to be a blessing to a bunch of unworthy foolish wretches saved from an eternity in Hell. 

Dear Friends. don't let anyone ever tell you what you are doing to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Christ is a waste of time. When we deny a blessing given to us by God, in essence we are throwing it back at the face of God and telling Him to keep his lousy blessing.

We don't want or need it because it doesn't fit into our perfect little world. So many want God put in their perfect little box. They want to tell God what to do instead of bowing down in His Holiness and praying. "Oh Lord what would you have me do." One is submission, one is flat out blasphemy.

 Waste of Time, I think Not, I so pray for more time to "waste" for my glorious King.‎

"O think, that he who was master of all heaven’s majesty came down to be the victim of all man’s misery!"---C.H. Spurgeon.

My Corner, My Cross and My Son

CrossRolling 3

I know those within the CrossWalking community use this term. However, since I literally roll and am reaching out to cars whizzing by on a highway I have chose to refer to my time out with the cross as such. I can not in a clear conscience refer to myself as a crosswalker.

Today was the third time out with the cross on my corner. I had hopes of getting out with it earlier in the day, but various things came up and the day drew on. My wife Suzanne had not been feeling well and since I require her assistance and it was getting closer to evening, I had pretty much decided I would not go out today.

My son Tyler stepped up to help out his dad. He helped me get everything together and ready and went with me to my corner. It was another cloudy, windy and for our area, cold day. I had sent out a message prior to leaving and asked for prayer for those driving by seeing the Are You Ready Cross. We began our time in prayer and I asked if he would like to read from the Bible. He did not hesitate. He read several chapters of Psalms.

A little time passed, we had several vehicles blow their horns and waves could be seen. One truck passed with an older couple in it, I saw a look of confusion and repulsion on the face of the passenger.

Then I was blessed again. Not only had God provided me the help of my son and the pleasure of hearing him read out loud outside, which I think was a first for him, but then something I will never forget. I had planned on reading several chapters while holding my cross. Well, it is not very easy balancing my cross in one hand and my Bible in the other. He took my cross, walked closer to the edge of the road and unashamedly stood there with it, as if he was a veteran at it. Did I mention he is a 17 year old teenager? Did I mention he is on the varsity football team and was wearing his letterman jacket? Did I mention this a very small town and all the locals know their team and players?

Romans 1:16 came to mind. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Tyler

I asked him about the look on his face. He was concentrating on the cars and the people and Christ. I pray we will need to order another cross. 

As cars would pass by he was able to point out a number of them that were people he knew from school. A couple of them were coaches and teachers.

Then The Lord blessed our time once more. A car turned in from the intersection, started passed us, hit the breaks, backed up and pulled into the lot we were standing in. It was a 17 year old girl from his high school he is friends with. She asked about what we were doing and why we were on the corner. I talked to her for a few minutes and Tyler gave her a copy of Shocking Youth Message by Paul Washer, Booklet Scientific Facts in the Bible by Ray Comfort and a tract by Tony Miano. She was on her way home from work and headed to get her paycheck cashed. Wherever it was she planned to do such, was about to close and couldn’t stay very long. Then she said one of the most encouraging things I’ve been told while witnessing. “I think what the two of you are doing is wonderful. I will be sure to read and listen to what you gave me.” She thanked us several times for being out there and for talking to her.

 

This was a day I had decided I wasn’t going to be able to go to my corner, it turned out to be the most blessed I have been while there yet. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has planned for the next time at my corner with the cross.

Yes, I had a smile of Joy!