The March Of The Sodomites :: June 24, 2017 :: Part 3

My stomach was churning throughout the whole 2 and a half hour drive to the place. Enough time for the Lord to remind me why we are going there in the first place: for HIM. No other reason. Not for preaching. Not for converts. Not for tracts. Not for anything we have no control or authority over. I am more than pleased and praise God's wisdom in employing me where I am weakest in three points related: 1. Public speaking. 2. Illiterate (in the seminary and pastoral degree sense) and number 3, public speaking. (Sorry, I just had to emphasize.)

I may stand there for over an hour without speaking. I wait on the Lord for his words, because the last thing I would want is to give the people a piece of my mind. God knows the people. I don't. And so I throw myself at his mercy and silently say to myself, "Have mercy on me o God.. let me lift up Christ.. I believe in the Holy Spirit," over and over. Once the first words come out, I can hardly stop at all. A gusher breaks out. Just as the Word says, "..out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." I have since then began to enjoy not knowing what to say before I go up the steps. The Lord has to be lifted up first, whatever follows, happens. I enjoy the sweat, and the tremors on the arms from the weight of the wood, the buckling knees, the ants in the heels from standing, the jeers and mocking from people around me as I simply keep my  head down. Its such a humbling experience to become a fool for Christ. Its true, that He gives beauty in exchange for my ashes. What ashes you ask? My burned up pride, my burned up will, my burned up self-esteem, my burned up opinion of myself. He accepts all that and exchanges His joy instead. Just as He said, "MY peace I give you. MY joy I leave you."  I have always asked him to crucify my "self", and he answered by giving me a cross to carry. Literally.

The best thing that came out of the day was meeting new brethren. Real brethren with a zeal for God and the honor of his name. I know a lot of professing Christians but none as zealous as these for the Lord, these gems are a rare find. They have incredible testimonies of the Lord's powerful deliverance in their lives. Such great stories! And incredible passion to proclaim Christ to the people. It is true that only those who have been forgiven much will love much. Meanwhile, Churchians are plenty. You wont' know they're Christians unless they tell you, and even then you'd have a hard time believing them because of their timid fruit. Corporate Christians belonging to corporate churches living silently amidst the unsaved. With some you can't even tell if you speak with them. Their social profiles are full of humanist articles about the affairs of this world, the affairs of government, vain pictures of themselves, pictures of their breakfast, pictures of their work, pictures of their business, pictures of their shoes, pictures of their vacations, pictures of their pets, pictures of their skills - none about the zeal for Christ and his cause. Zero. I know a lot of them. I was one of them. (A giraffe with his head stuck in the ground. Or is that an ostrich that does that?)

Three years ago if the Lord would have shown me my self carrying a wooden cross shouting in public the most unpopular of all messages, I would have cringed in disbelief. Probably boarded the first ship away from Nineveh. Since then I have lost an appetite for just about anything and everything else. I have practically deleted my identity in social networks. They are a waste of precious time. I simply wanted to remain dumb and unlearned, like those smelly fishermen the Lord chose. Choosing rather to suffer affliction, just like my Lord, and covet no other place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross.

The walk back to the car was quite a long one. Which gave us an opportunity to hand out tracts to every common folk we meet along the way, until only a few was left. These received the tracts with appreciation. A quick stopover at a local bread shop dots the end of the day. it was nothing but joy inside the car all the way home. This is the best legacy I can leave my children, far better than education. A vision of what needs to be done, and who to go to, to be able to do it.

May the Lord Jesus raise these children up to be fearless laborers in his vineyard. He alone deserves the reward for his suffering.