Road TRIP!!!

Thursday my wife and I took a road trip to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. We love road trips. At $2.99 a gallon for gasoline we have taken fewer this year than we would like. With coffee in hand we took off. Along the way my wife took some pictures.

I like the the pictures with the big hay bales. There is an interesting story about our camera and camera batteries but I will just move on. Let it be said that we had to turn around and go back to get these pictures. Why is it that you always think that what you are looking for is just a mile down the road. Ten miles later you finally find it. So it goes with the story of these pictures.

I must say I did feel sorry for vacuum cleaners in Arkansas. They stick OLD and DEAD vacuums up on the fence for everyone to look at. It was like driving up on a mass killing of uprights. I was glad we had no children in the car.

We did run into a VERY colorful character. Colorful for a couple of reasons. One reason was that he was tattooed from the neck down. Not every spot was tattooed but he was definitely working on it. The other reason he was colorful was his language. He knew about Jesus but only from the standpoint that 'Jesus' was a word used when you were upset. He dropped the 'F' bomb like we use the word 'the' in our sentences. I could have gotten upset and OFFENDED. It was a little difficult being around a guy like this. Not because of his tattoos - they didn't bother me. In fact, some of them were a tremendous display of artistic talent. But the language and the things he and his buddy talked about and found funny was actually disgusting. But let me ask you this. WHO IS SUPPOSE TO AFFECT WHO? As followers of Jesus - Jesus is a word I know but as a name for my saviour - we are supposed to affect the world and not be affected by it. As all conversations go between two men he asked me my occupation. When I told him I was a minister on staff at a church his language changed. Not as foul but he dropped the 'D' and 'H' word once in awhile. He did clean up his talk. The other guy just disappeared.

As we talked I found out he loved his wife, his little girl, baseball and being an artist. I zeroed in on raising children and how we as fathers should help them to avoid the mistakes we have made. I didn't make much headway into telling him the gospel message but I did sow every seed I had an opportunity to sow. To me he was hard ground. At least to me he appeared to be.

Jesus said - Mat 5:13 - 14 "You are the salt of the earth; . . . v14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. " Matthew 5:16 NKJV Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Well I did my best. I let my light shine and attempted to be salt to season this guy. I must admit, it was not easy. I don't know if I made any impact on this guy or his buddy. The experience did remind me that the world is dark and full of disgusting things (sin)and dying. My job is to be light and salt and let the world hear the gospel message through me. My job is not to hide out in my home or church or Sunday school class where I feel comfortable. Jesus made the greatest impact on people when He was the most uncomfortable. Hanging on the cross is uncomfortable but I rejoice because He did and now I have eternal life.

John 3:16 MSG "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.