Chicken Day 12: Three Skateboarders

The effects of Hurricane Dolly reached all the way to El Paso. We got torrential rains. The roof over our porch was leaking in two places, which was frustrating since I thought we had fixed that problem. Our driveway and backyard both flooded and threatened to spill into the house, but the rains stopped before causing any damage. It wasn’t going to be a great day for sharing at the park, so I started thinking about alternatives.

I considered calling an old friend and sharing the gospel, but that would be pretty tough. I wasn’t sure I could find the courage for that. Silas and I decided to go to the mall instead. It was a different mall than I had gone to with Blaise.

I have a terrible recollection of both names and faces so I was a little caught off guard when a guy was looking at me like I was his long lost friend. It reached such a point of awkwardness that I had to say something.

“Hey, how are you doing?” I offered, hoping to buy a few seconds while I tried to figure out who he was.

“Do you remember us?” he inquired. I’m sure he could tell that I was searching my memory banks. I looked at his friend and realized that they were the brothers Blaise and I had shared the gospel with at the other mall.

“Don’t tell me…” I had been praying for them, so at least I had a chance. “…Daniel, and…give me a second…José!” It was so cool to run into them again. I asked them if they had read the stuff I had left them with and if they had any questions. We chatted for a few minutes and I offered to get together with them sometime. We’ll see what God does. The odds of running into them in El Paso, a city of 600,000 people, are pretty astronomical! I felt like that was why God had us go to the mall. If nothing else happened I’d feel pretty good about it. God is so good!

After talking to them we walked around and looked for someone doing nothing. We spotted a stocky guy who had tattoos and a gray shirt that said “Army” on it. I got to go through a very brief gospel presentation with him, but he was waiting for someone and was very distracted. Right when we got to the explanation of “faith” the person he was looking for called. While he was on the phone I wrote my number on a tract. When he got off he said he had to go and I gave him the tract and offered for him to give me a call sometime.

My share-with-someone box was checked and I was good to go. Does that sound insincere? I suppose it is. I understand my motives are tainted. I would like to share the gospel out of the overflowing love of Jesus that is in my heart, but it hasn’t happened much in the past. My goal of sharing every day has driven me to do what I would not normally do. Although it’s not the ideal motivation, I’ve been comforted several times by the following:

Philippians 1:18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. NIV

On this particular occasion, as we drove toward home, I thought we should run by the park. Silas was up for it, so off we went. It was the first time we had continued sharing after our “quota” was met.

Three kids were riding their skateboards down the middle of the street. We drove past them and checked out the playground area where families hang out. It was pretty sparse there due to the inclement weather, so we went back to the skateboarders.

Not only did they let us share the gospel with them, but they seemed hungry for it. The idea of salvation through faith was just about the craziest thing they had ever heard and I showed them several verses to prove what I was saying. At the end I told them that I didn’t want to pressure them, but if they wanted to pray and tell God they wanted to receive the free gift of eternal life they could do it with me. One of them indicated that he wanted to do it, and the others agreed. I prayed first, then each of them prayed, and then Silas closed it off for us. I thought it was thrilling that they were willing to pray in front of each other. It seemed to be a sign of a genuine conversion to me, and it made me think of the following verse:

Matthew 10:32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” NIV

Praise God! We were so stoked! It was amazing that God had led us to the park and that they were out in the bad weather. (In fact, it started drizzling on us while I was sharing with them.) Even one of the kids mentioned in his prayer that God had us all meet for a purpose. Yes, indeed! That was clearly God’s doing!