The world race is clearly the place to come if you want to
all of a sudden find yourself doing a lot of things that you’ve never done
before. I mean the list of
“firsts” that I have from just this month in Nepal alone is ridiculous and
ranges from “first time I ever ate cauliflower” to “first time I ever watched a
close friend of mine pull the head off of a pigeon before my eyes, knowing that
very pigeon would be inside my stomach within hours” to “first time I have
ridden on top of a bus and gotten whacked in the face by a passing palm
branch”. Just trust me, this trip
is a trip where you’ll have so many firsts that you stop even acknowledging the
small ones.
I want to share the most exciting first though that I have
from my trip so far. A couple of
weeks ago, I shared the story of Jesus with a non-believer!
I wish that I could say that it wasn’t the first time I have
ever done it but it was. We were
with the pastor that we are working with here and had bused/walked to a village
nearby where we are staying. We
had come to this village with the sole purpose of just sharing the gospel with
some people.
Many people in this area have never seen an American and
thus, we get a lot of attention when we walk around. Pretty much everyone we pass stops what they’re doing and
watches us go by. It’s a little
bit weird but ends up being super useful when you’re looking for people who
will listen to you share the Gospel.
After a few minutes of being in the village, we stopped in front of a
small shop and some Nepali people gathered around. They asked the same questions that EVERYONE asks us. They ask who we are and want to know
why we are in Nepal/their village.
I told them what I had told some people before: “My name is Christian, I
am from America and I am here because I love Jesus and He told me to come here
and tell people how much He loves them!”
Then the rest of us introduced ourselves and handed out tracks which
outline the Gospel. Generally, I’m
not too into handing out tracks but it kind of takes on a new meaning when
people have literally never heard of Jesus.
Then, we thanked them for talking to us and moved on. After walking another couple hundred
yards, we got to what seemed to be a fairly central part of the village. There were some people around who
invited us to come and sit on their table (there are tables all over the place
but they’re all there for sitting on, not sitting at). They asked us the same questions again.
I answered the same way. Then, they noticed my guitar and asked
if I could sing them a song. I
chose a song that I don’t really remember right now and played it for
them. Afterwards, we talked a bit
with the people and were about to leave when Kacie mentioned to me that she had
noticed one of the men was wearing a cross necklace. The moment that she mentioned it to me, I felt the Lord
telling me that I was going to need to use that to bring up Jesus.
After fighting with some completely irrational fear for a
couple minutes, I decided to just ask him if he knew what symbol he was wearing
around his neck. He said that he
knew it was a Christian symbol but wasn’t sure what it meant. I then, for the first time in my life,
laid out the basic story of what Jesus had done for us as a way of explaining
the importance of the cross and why it is the symbol of Christianity. Kacie jumped in on it with me and we
tag-teamed the Gospel story in front of a group of people who had largely not
even HEARD of Jesus!
All of a sudden, some of my other teammates got the sense
that we needed to ask if there was anyone who was sick that we could pray
for. At first, just a couple
people came forward. By the end of
an hour and a half, we had easily gotten to pray for 25 people to be healed
from various sicknesses and injuries!!
Many people told us that they were healed from different stomach and
head pains. As we prayed for one
little girl who had a bum leg, Kacie felt the girl’s knee shifting underneath
her hand! And after we finished
praying for the girl, we saw her jump down off the table and run around. Later, the same little girl
brought her little sister for prayer.
Basically, it was awesome. If you want even more details on that day, check my
teammates’ blogs. I am sure that
at least a couple of them wrote about our experiences that day.
Something happened inside of me that day though. As I shared the gospel with those
people, my hope was that it would light a fire in their hearts. My desire was for the Lord to touch
their hearts with the story of His grace and love. I realized that afternoon though that He hadn’t just touched
them with His love as I shared it.
That story has just as much power to touch me as it does to touch
them. Even though I already know
it, there is so much depth to what seems to be such a simple story sometimes.
God put something inside of me that afternoon. I have been craving the Gospel since
then. Since that day, I have
probably gotten the chance to share the Gospel with at least 15 different
groups of 5-35 people now and God rocks my world every single time. I love how clearly the Lord speaks to
me when He is telling me how to share His story. I don’t know how He does it but somehow the story that comes
out of my mouth seems different every time. The Gospel just doesn’t get old. My teammates mentioned to me yesterday that there is an
excitement in my voice and my demeanor when I am sharing the Gospel. I was SO excited to hear that and also
was not surprised at all! My heart
starts racing when I start telling the story of Jesus.
Another part of it that I love is how God has been using
worship music as part of the way that I share His story. He knows how worship music speaks to me
and so He just continually opens the door for me to sing songs of declaration,
freedom, and love over people and then explain to them what the song I sang was
about. I get to tell them that I
was singing about a JOY that is unquenchable and then I get to tell them where
that joy comes from. Ah, it’s so good.
The Gospel is so good.
God has me in this place where He is waking me up in the
mornings with thoughts about the Gospel.
I am just having so much fun seeking the new depths that God has for me
in that story that sometimes seems so simple and sometimes seems so intricate.
My teammate Kacie just gave me a book today that is all
about the Gospel and how the Bible talks about the depths of God’s love that
was poured out on us through Jesus’ sacrifice. I’m super pumped to read it.
I have spent some time with the Lord trying to figure out
why exactly I had never shared my faith before. I have come to the conclusion that I was absolutely walking
as a man who was kind of ashamed of the Gospel. Of course I wasn’t ashamed of it when I was around people
who also believe in Jesus. That wouldn’t make sense. But I was ashamed of who it meant I was if I shared the
Gospel with “people who didn’t want to hear it”. I was ashamed of being “that guy”. However, Jesus led me off sharing the Gospel the other day
with my saying “guys, I honestly believe that this story that I’m about to tell
you is the greatest story that you will ever hear.”
That attitude doesn’t sound anything like the attitude that is scared that
people might not “want to hear it.”
The reality is that, on some level, everyone has a desire to hear the
Gospel because it is absolutely the answer to all of their questions and
needs. It is legitimately the
greatest story that anyone could ever hear. I think though that, because I hadn’t been living a life
where the Gospel was alive and active in my day to day life, I had forgotten
myself that this simple story is the greatest story ever ever ever! It had become “old news” to me and had
turned into just a boring Bible story in some ways.
But seriously, since God re-sparked my love for this story,
I can’t get over how amazing it is!
The same story can take me to a different place with Jesus every
day. It is insane and awesome.
So heck, if you have any desire to hear some advice from me,
I’d just encourage you to hit up the Gospel! If you already love Jesus and wish that you loved to share
the Gospel with people and wished that you could have some boldness to share
it, just start reading it! You
seriously won’t be able to keep it in if you let it just be alive in your own
life.
And if you’re not a Christian, you should read the
Gospels. Even if you think you’ve
heard the story before or that you already know it, just get in there and read
it again. The word of God is
living and WILL rock your world if you let it.
God is such a lover.
Bam. I love you guys. Really miss my family…and my woman.
Talk to you soon!
“Never be content with your current grasp of the Gospel. The Gospel is life-permeating, world-altering,
universe-changing truth. It has
more facets than a diamond. It’s
depths man will never exhaust.”
C.J. Mahaney
** Photos taken my a Miss Stephanie May **
