Dog Park:
The closest thing to heaven, if you are a dog, is a trip to the dog park! Total endorphin & adrenalin overload. The happiness & total ecstacy some dogs show at the park reminds me a little of what we might feel the first time we enter through the heavenly gates. I think that's one reason I go there so often.
So, yesterday, I made a decision beforehand that I would go to the dog park specifically asking God to lead me to ONE person to witness to. As my dogs played, I walked the grounds, looking for an opportunity. After an hour, I had managed to strike up short conversations, but nothing leading to an evangelizing opportunity. I decided finally to just leave a tract on the bench overlooking the hillside of the park.
But as I neared the bench, I noticed a cell phone someone left. After asking others at the park if they had lost a phone, I posted a "Found" notice with my number on the bulletin board there, & went home.
Later that evening, a lady finally called about the lost phone, & we agreed to meet at the park the next day. The next morning, when I gave her the phone, she was very thankful so it was easy to also hand her a bible tract. It was a short conversation, but at least she got the tract to read, and I also had my church's contact info (Crossroads Community Church) on the back of the tract and suggested she might try visiting if she had nowhere else to attend for Easter. To me, it really felt as though God had answered my prayer in guiding me to that bench which led to the witnessing opportunity.
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Door to Door:
Today (Saturday), I also went downtown, going door to door for about 45 minutes. The most memorable conversation, was with a middle-aged lady at the third house I knocked on. She said "yes" she was raised Catholic, and was a believer. But as we continued chatting, it became clear she had more of a "New Age" belief system than Christian.
For example, she believed everyone would ultimately get to heaven, regardless of what they believed, or how badly they lived their life. When I tried to mention bible quotations, such as "No one comes to the Father except through Me", she said that she didn't really believe that part. She then went on to explain that she believed mainly what was in her heart.
That is a nice sentiment, & she is certainly entitled to her personal beliefs, but, whereas I seem to need a faith grounded on facts, many other people nowadays seem to be able to separate their spiritual walk from any grounding in any objective, factual foundation.
My reading of the bible, however, makes it clear to me that just as there are physical laws that run the physical universe, there are *also* spiritual laws that God uses to run the spiritual realm. For example, if I jump off a building believing in my heart I can fly, I will still fall flat on my face & break some bones. The law of gravity still operates no matter how much I try to think to the contrary. The same with the spiritual laws. If I disregard God's commandments & laws, I will suffer the consequences. Likewise, if I obey the spiritual law of sincerely accepting Jesus as my Savior (the ONLY one Who can pay the price for my sins & shortcomings), I get to enjoy the rewards of Heaven.++++++++++++++++
