4th of July in Denver and a Chef Who Likes Beyonce

Well thanks to my dad, we spent the 4th of July holiday in Denver for my lil' sisters birthday. I had purchased 200 "Happy 4th of July" tracts from livingwaters.com to give out over the 4 days we were there. I also had some trillion dollar bills to give out on the Monday and Tuesday after the weekend. I was all set and on fire to share when we pulled up to the Denver Zoo. That was when my first discouragement occurred. I handed two guys each a tract and when I told them what they were one replied that he was on the nose of the plane headed to Hell and the other said he wouldn't talk about "religion." They tried to give back the holiday millions but I said to keep them strictly as a gift even if for just the art on the front and not the message on the back. Thankfully they did. I gave out quite a few tracts at the Zoo and finally got in a couple one to one conversations. God gave me two separate lemonade stand workers to talk with. First was a girl who had a christian background but wasn't walking with the Lord. I took her through the Law and she was visibly ready for God's grace so I shared the Gospel with her. Her face lit up and she thanked me so much for sharing. That was a boost to keep going. Later on I spoke with Eric, a Roman Catholic, in a conversation that also went very well. I even got him to say that "now" is the best time to repent all on his own. I pray that both of them do come to repentance and faith in Christ. I left the Zoo feeling good but apparently in a "pride comes before the fall" sort of way. The last guy I handed a tract to proceeded to get up and throw it away, slamming the lid for good measure. Needless to say, I didn't go back to talk about it lol.

The next day was a bit more mellow. We went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. This day had already had a rough start because of an email we at DiG received from an unhappy "christian" who said we shouldn't be evangelizing on Xbox. I had my tracts with me anyway. There is a ton of vagrancy in Denver and all I had were money tracts which aren't to be given to the homeless. Inside the museum it was also difficult to hand out tracts because people were really focused on reading the placards on the displays. I did manage to give out a few here and there though. Mostly I tried to fish for conversations by commenting on on the false religions and their worship of people and things in King Tut's times. People pretty much ignored my comments about changing times from B.C. (Before Christ) to B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and how the world will do anything to get rid of Christ so they don't have to think about their sin. The lack of tracts handed out let me to get pumped to do some open air when I got outside but there was no crowd. Literally everyone was inside when we left. I pray that the tracts I was able to hand out speak to the people who received them at the right time.

When we got back to the hotel I had let my discouragement get the best of me. I thought I was done handing out tracts for the rest of the vacation. Then, my encouragement came back to me from the strangest of events. We didn't know where my son's shoes were so we had my daughter searching for what was lost. It finally dawned on us that the shoes may still be in the car. My daughter overhearing that, didn't want to keep looking even though we insisted she do so. That reminded me that I didn't have to "find the sinner", I just had to keep seeking for what was lost because God said to.

My renewed obedience started the first thing the next morning when the potty mouth chef was cooking my omelet. When he spoke about going to church the day before, my "something doesn't add up" alarm went off in my head. I took him through the good person test and when I asked him if he'd ever looked at a woman with lust. He said no. Looking back I guess this could be considered stereotypical since he was African American but I said, "not even Beyonce?" However he or anyone else would take that, it worked so I went with it. He admitted that yes he had looked at Beyonce with lust. Not even noticing that my wife had come into the kitchen area, I continued with the Gospel presentation. Come to find out my wife was laughing at my using Beyonce to share the Gospel. Looking back, I kinda have to chuckle too.

After that we went to Dave & Busters to meet some of Kelli's family. I left tracts everywhere! In drink menus, on arcade games, in change machines & atm's, and on tables all around the bar area. It was great to still be doing something because I was so tired and didn't feel like I had the strength to carry on any one to one's. I did get to share what I've learned from the Way of the Master with Kelli's family. Hopefully they will take the time to listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret in the near future.

Sadly, I did not get to give out all of my holiday themed tracts but I do feel like I was obedient to the Great Commission. Every tract that went out has the possibility to be read over and over. At the right time, God's Holy Spirit can do the converting. All I had to do was be the messenger. I did, and that is the success right there.