Exloring Life Eternal

I ride the busses.

On them, I meet folks from a wide range of social backgrounds and abilities: Mentally challenged, gangsta kids, collegians, retired folks. Black-White-Asian-Latino-Arab-Slavic, etc. Engaging people in conversation is the key to making the most of the time. It is not very easy to engage some folks. I recall one fellow did not have any interest in the Gospel or talking about much of anything. He figured that an intimation of his Masonic fraternity links should suffice to blow off some kid who believed Jesus should be proclaimed widely. It didn't work. I reminded the man of what Jesus said, "The stone that the masons rejected has become the cheif capstone." I reminded him that there still was time to repent. He was uninterested, but he refused any further acknowledgement of my existence and promptly clammed up.

I've ridden in cars. I've biked across town. I've walked across town late at night. But I prefer to ride on the busses. Alone, I can walk with God. In the busses, God rides along and claims first place amid the discussions.

Recently a conversation revealed some encouragement like others had: a high school student recognized me as the guy who talked about Jesus. He confessed to some jail time. He confessed his change of attitude from mocking to humility. He goes to church. He knows about Jesus. But he needed a little lift, a reminder of God's grace.

He got it.

But there are too many bus routes, too many times that there are people ripe for the gospel, too many times that rowdiness prevails over the reign of God. I've found that if there is a group of rowdies, the mere presence of a semi adult person brings a little order.

"Lord, raise up more people for bus ministry."

I had a good chat with a fellow today on a bus. It was a rather slow conversation in a quiet corner of the bus. My new friend, B.J., was really rather sharp & a young man in whom God had worked miracles. He is alive. I talked to him a little in riddles & with pretty "advanced" reasoning, and he understood better than some
who claim to have Ph.D.'s.

Though he attends a church for doubters named after the sancified skeptic: Thomas, the little seed of truth has sprouted in his heart.

The Lord was near us as long as we were able to talk in relative calm & peace. (Didn't someone sing, "When anxieties multiplied within me, Your consolations delighted my soul.")

Then a rowdy fellow who tried to swallow the ocean in order live on the land came onboard the bus as it ferried us about town. The noise overwhelmed what the Lord was saying to my friend. (Not what I was saying, but the Lord ... because my new friend seemed to find
joy again, before the rough & tumble of the sea came in).

I think that this peace which is so needed is being forgotten in America. Earlier I had heard a standard radio opinion forum by a fellow who thought he should be labelled, "right-wing, fundamentalist, born-again." (I'm not sure if he knew that the _good_news pertains to Jesus Christ as our King, not merely the latest election or news reports.)

... How different from the temple! How different from the quietness of watching the Lord provide for your family on a farm!! How different from riding across the country side and seeing the many diverse works of God in all of creation!!

Where is the Lord? Everywhere.

When we are on benches talking with people trying to decide which road they will take, while the police patrol to make sure all the roads are clear of debris.

When we are in hospitals struggling for the live of a loved one, while the hospital profits from the illness.

When we are at work, thankful for a little break now & then & for food to put on the table, while some don't know what rest is.

When we are walking in all sorts of weather, and thankful for the way the Lord made the sun to shine on the good & the bad, without trying to evaluate who is who every day.

When we peer past the furthest star & below the lowest depth of the ocean, there too we find God.

His love is inescapable.

I cannot help but wonder if perhaps it was the very babble of the towns that caused Abraham to live as a wonderer. He sought the Lord, & so He has rest today. He saw the Lord, & so can we.

Will we look for Him?
He's looking for us.

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Those are some things I've been thinking about & when you wrote about of Grandpa, whatever his strengths or weaknesses, I couldn't help but think back a little further and look a little further ahead. What we do & say matters.

Mert

While studying in college, I observed that Jesus never promised a "job," though He did promise provision & he does call us to Himself ... 100% commitment.

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Today, the Lord gave me 3 great witnessing opportunities ... because I worked with an advertising contractor holding a street sign & listening to a CD with praise music or the Bible.

The first conversation was with a guy in a red Jeep who asked what this
was all about. I indicated that the signs were for the "conversion" of
the K-Mart store to a Sears Essentials store because of a corporate
buyout, but what I was about was a different conversion: the
conversion of souls from dark to light, from sin to salvation, from
death to life, etc. He mentioned that he too had noticed that far too
many people thought that it was all about money. He had had 2 heart
attacks & hardening of the arteries. Anxiety rested upon his face. I
reminded him of Jesus' death, burial, & resurrection & we asked the
Lord for help in this man's body. I suggested a church we (my wife &
I) had attended, and he seemed interested. His name is Louie Waterbury.

The second conversation was with a co-worker who had grown up for a
time around a sectarian splinter off Christianity (The Way
International) http://www.ex-wayworld.com/ I talked with him about
the Bible, and he admitted his need for forgiveness. However, he was
interested in the Bible, but did not seem to have ever personally
studied it in depth. He has a hard time in life, but needs to see the
church in love with God (not money/power/tradition?.) He left still
searching.

The last man was a man of some authority & wealth. He seemed to have
some authority at the store (as he was the one who was there when we
learned that we (the sign-holders) would have to leave). He had seen /
watched me as I bought some things that my wife wanted, but at very
good prices!

As I was about to leave the store, he too was leaving. He was busy,
but he greeted me, "How are you doing?"

"Rejoicing!" I answered.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because my name is written in the Lamb's book of life? Is yours?"

"Umm, I don't know."

"Would you be interested in knowing for sure that your name is in the
Lamb's book?"

"No." He muttered a little something else too, but he was in his SUV &
off down the road at that point.

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All that to say, it was perhaps the best day for me personally, but the
"job" is closing up ... quick! I was doing what I loved doing, but the
"money" was not all that great!! (1/2 of what was originally offerred,
though I have done the job before. Uncertain future.) God is
providing through Praying Through the Arabian Peninsula, a little more,
which has become my life passion since 3+ years ago, but as they say,
the money ain't great but the retirement benefits are out of this world.

Thanks for your encouragement & mutual prayer.

Peace,
Mert Hershberger