Ruffling Feathers

Since participating in evangelism boot camps, I have often struggled with the fact that I can't give a Gospel tract to everyone I see. It's God's way of reminding me that salvation of the world is His task, not mine, and that I am only a participant in His work.

But lately, I have not been as avid a participant as I would like to be. I have tracts, I have time, I just haven't handed them out.


Yesterday, I decided to repent, and to carry tracts with me on my multiple trips to the Home Depot to fix my toilet and my kitchen sink. I gave tracts to every employee I engaged, I gave tracts to every patron who would take one, and I gave tracts to people along the way. As the day warmed up, I took off my jacket, revealing my "Not Just Jews for Jesus" T-shirt that I had gotten in New York back in 2006 when I served with Jews for Jesus for their expanded summer witnessing campaign. And, boy, the reaction I got from that!

At first, it was just four guys sitting in Chipoltle eating lunch. I saw them jump and stare, but I had an errand to run, and I figured I'd get another shot at them.

Well, I did:

As they were driving by, the front passenger rolled down his window and asked,

"Hey, are you Jewish?" [If you haven't seen the shirt, the "Not Just" part is ... shall we say... a bit more subtle than the rest.]

"No," with a smile.

"Then what the ---- are you wearing that shirt for?"

"It says, 'Not Just Jews for Jesus'!"

"You ---- ----!"

"God bless you!"

"God ---- you!"

"He won't!"

It made the whole day worthwhile! "Blessed are you when men shall revile you...for My Name's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad!"

It even topped the "Hey, this is a Christian thing, with Scriptures on it!" angry reaction that I heard after walking away from a guy who had asked for a second million dollar bill before he read it.

And it was even better than the guy who acted like I was a robber and told me to back away as if he had a gun. (What if he did? Well, he should have used it. =P Anyway, he looked like a complete jerk acting like that toward the guy who's giving away free million dollar bills that everyone else seemed to want.)

So, four trips to Home Depot, and a fully repaired kitchen sink and toilet, and about 100 tracts later, I was ready for work. It was already a good day.