Thursday 6 October 2016

Down in the Park.

It doesn't seem like 3 years since I was in bible school ~ but it is. My last term dragged as I was only carrying one subject & I could hardly wait to be done with the one subject I loathed with the sort of passion I generally keep for maths subjects: the street witness.

Not only do I seriously suck at this, I was unable to come up with a coping mechanism though I do seem to remember saying, at some point, how much easier it would be to just go & preach from a soap box.  Pretty sure most of my class thought I was barking mad but we are talking the person who avoided her B.A graduation & regretted nothing.  I was, sadly, unable to avoid my bible college graduation.  I did try but my Dean was so appalled I'd ever even had the thought I ceeded victory early because she is quite a nice woman & Witnessing was her subject & she'd had me moaning & groaning for the best part of 2 years so, you know, I thought I'd best do something nice for the woman.

Besides, I figured I was pretty safe opting for a street preaching gig as we were told in no uncertain terms that we needed a permit & no way, no how would we ever get said permit.

At the time I thought I would slip into a submissive role as one of several preachers in an established church.  As it turned out we scared the daylights out of said church & they still want nothing to do with us. *sigh* So, you know, we started our own.  It was a lot scarier than it sounds 3 years down the track.  Way more angst. I still wonder how anyone could find me frightening ...?

The thing with being Spirit filled & Spirit led is that when the Spirit says Jump! you jump. Both the Moth & I, then Rabqa when she joined us, are not into street witnessing.  We are incredibly bad at it ~ all of us, & not one of us could say with any honesty that we felt led to do it but we understood we were called to share the good news.

 I'm not a mover & shaker so it's a good thing the MOTH is. He applied for the permit for street preaching. I was so terribly sure I had nothing to worry about because I had been told, hadn't I, by a  very reliable source too, that it would never happen ~ but it did! So that was pretty clear;  I jumped.

It's embarrassing to admit how terrifying I found it at first.  No~one was beating me with rods, or chucking me off cliffs or drumming me out of town.  Not even harassment. After 3 years we only ever got rained off one Sunday.  No matter what the weather did for the rest of the week, or even before & after the park, that one hour we were in the park on the first Sunday of the month was always as dry as a bone!

Then last month we applied to our council to be in the Park every Sunday.

Doing the park is a seriously weird thing.  We share the preaching spot around but the only one who was getting excited about it was the Holy Spirit.  He was thrilled to bits ~ & a good thing too as Rabqa & I stop doing this the day He doesn't show up!  Then the MOTH decided he loved it & for a while he did most of the preaching.  He's not a preacher so just gave a straight salvation message.

I'm not the people person.  That would be the MOTH. I worship with my eyes shut.  I have been known to preach an entire message with my eyes shut. I pretty much have zero interest in what is going on around us. Not so the MOTH.  He keeps tabs ~ at least in part because he has the job of protecting the preachers & that's not a job you can do with your eyes shut.

These days we get quite a crowd.  Not up close & personal.   No, no, no.  No, they hang round the peripheries: on the jetty, under the bus shelter, inside the taxi rank, up the hill in front of the loos & hidden amongst the cars in the car parks. They wind down their windows to listen while they wait for the barge to pull in & make last ditch bolts for the boats because they want to hear as much as they can. There are regulars, returnees & the odd bods. Some of the regulars have gotten over their fright & wave to us or call hello.  We have had our salvations & believers who needed to get back on track but we don't keep tabs.  God says He watches over His word & that it does not return to Him void. All we have to do is speak it out.

5 comments:

  1. Seriously awesome that you all are doing this! As I age (over 40 now) I feel this very strong desire that everything I do, think, say, etc. be about God, glorifying to God, and in service to God. I just want MORE of God all the time. And I want to share MORE of God. Not with people in the "church" but with people (especially children and families) in need. I hate my "job" and work at it very little--even though I constantly hear how good I am it. Because I only want to focus on my family and on God. And inside I keep alive this growing passion to be in full time mission work in Guatemala or Haiti or Africa. Somewhere where we can't live this comfortable life we have, even though most people would say our lives are pretty basic. The Spirit has not made it clear to me yet where our call lies--so I do all that can with those closest to me. Good on you for obeying the call even when you have to do it with your eyes closed.

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  2. I always wonder about Jonah, you know; I mean, how did he manage to actually run from the Holy Spirit?

    We now have 2 kids in Missions. I believe it is an end times thing. God is bringing in His Harvest.

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  3. Fennix, (still getting used to the new name) I am so, so proud of you. I have watched you go through this process of growing into this calling. I know how reluctant yet willing to please the Lord you have been. I am so pleased that you are seeing regulars in the park, it just is such a good thing!

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  4. I know you've watched this with interest. We have really, really good music that seems to appeal to a wide range of people [shocking I know; I chose it!!! ☺ ] & people are now wandering up to tell us so! Other things are happening too. I should probably write about them. Better than politics. ☺

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  5. Oh, and seeking ~ I have reverted to the old name. I just couldn't fit into the new one at all.

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