Last Saturday Larry and I were able to go serve with some other Christians to give out coats in a local neighborhood. Along with free hot chocolate, free blankets, and free bibles, there were 700 coats to give to anyone who needed one. It was amazing to see how many people showed up. Larry and I prayed with some recipients, but the two that stood out to us the most had one of those "Change of Plans" days.
Ahsan and Aasat came to the area the day before seeking to get $5 from someone so they could get into Manhattan and have a good time. They asked the "wrong" person. Our friend Boto was there getting ready for the coat drive, and he seized the opportunity to share the gospel with these youth. He said he'd give them $5, but they had to pass out these flyers advertising a coat drive for tomorrow. So they passed them out. Then he said, "For $5 more, you can listen to me for a few minutes as I tell you a story." They were delighted.
Those youth prayed to ask God to forgive them that afternoon, and then they showed up on Saturday. They had plans to pass out Astrology Reading advertisements that morning, but God had different plans. Instead, they prepared Bibles with me and Larry to hand out to all the recipients. :)
As we stuffed the Bibles, we told them the story of Adam and Eve and how it only took one sin to separate them from God. We talked about sacrifice and how there had to be blood sacrifice to pay for that sin. Then we told of how Jesus is that sacrifice and that we now can have life through him by trusting in his work and not ours. We talked about many other doctrines of the Christian faith. Ahsan is Muslim and Aarat is Sikh. At the end of the day, they confessed they knew more about Christianity than they know of their own religions. :)
These youth had never heard the story of Christmas before Friday, and had never heard who this "Jesus" was (is). But those plans were changed. God knows these young men and desires for them to follow Christ as their Lord, just like he desires you and me to follow him. Please pray for these two youth as they deal with this "Good News" of forgiveness, and the battle they are now in. Their families will not encourage their new faith if they indeed have come to faith in Christ. There is a spiritual battle going on right now...
The only negative aspect of the coat drive is this: The harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few. We needed more people to pray with the recipients and to share the Good News of Jesus with them. So pray that more people will respond to the calling of God to labor and work the harvest that he is providing. Pray for more laborers! If we are not already laboring then I pray that God will change all of our plans, so that we will find ourselves doing the work of the Lord. That kind of "change" is worth going through.
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