Just The Three Of Us

Having worshiped this morning with the blessed brethren in Batia, my wife and I decided to close the beautiful afternoon ministering at this place I have come to call our fishing hole. Every chance to minister on the street yields many wonderful and memorable people encounters both pleasant and unpleasant. I pray I never get used to this. It is, for both my wife and I, a terrifying and joyous thing as we sat in the bus on the way here.

I had in my bag new testament bibles to be given away and about two hundred tracts, most of which were distributed single-handedly by my wife. It seems people are more apt to receive handouts from a woman compared to a man. I only got to give away about twenty before I brought the mic out to preach. We pleaded with the crowd for a good hour, as a small crowd gathered behind us to stay and listen. Among those I remembered were, a nun who passed by that I gently told to repent and trust only on the finished work of the Lord instead of her religion; the traffic enforcers in front of us who stopped once in a while from their routine to listen without being obvious; a man who passed us by already but stopped to turn to look at us again and take a free bible; (Filipinos love freebies. We therefore capitalize on this to distribute the bibles.) and a sodomite who bowed as he passed by but stopped to listen as his companion was buying from the drugstore. He stood for a few moments looking at our direction listening intently, even while his friend was already pulling at his arm to cross the street. I pleaded directly to him. May the Lord have mercy on him.

My main audience for the evening was the balut vendor right beside me, and the women minding the potato fries stall behind us. Their buyers also stopped for a good while to listen. I also noticed people have a tendency to ask for a tract on their own after hearing the Gospel, hardly taking notice before they do. As always, the peace that followed is always overwhelming. The bus ride home was sweet and peaceful.

I am beginning to realize that I would hardly reach anyone if I keep hopping from one place to another, but instead I should faithfully minister to those places the Lord told me to go to regularly, until he brings the people in, like a fisherman waiting for the fish to the take the line. I should wait on the Lord patiently to work among the people until Christ be formed in a person there. I believe that's what I'll do: work patiently in my own backyard.