Construction Project
This week we’ve been working hard on remodeling our Bible chapel here in Tarapoto. A team lead by brother Steven Harrel from North Carolina has come to help us with the project and they’ve been a HUGE blessing! We are putting in 6 big columns and beams so that we can build a second story for extra classroom space. It’s been a hot sweaty and back-breaking job…. but everyone is surviving!
Three river trips and fifteen villages so far….
We’ve had kids meetings, open air meetings, church meetings, school meetings….. Maggots falling from the roof on Thom’s head as he taught. Fire ants in Cullens boots as he lead open air worship. Drunks mocking from afar as I preached….. Epic hikes, pouring rain, flooded rivers, steamy hot-springs, majestic waterfalls, towering mountains, lush rainforests….. Lots of mud, lots of mosquitoes, lots of heat, lots of sweat, lots of rice, lots of fish. Lots of help from the Lord!
An evangelistic encounter to remember
Every time I get into a taxi I try to share the gospel with the driver…. He’s a captive audience…. And you’re paying him… So he has to listen 🙂
Today when we jumped into a taxi I started with some normal small talk about the weather and then I asked the driver one of my favorite lead-in questions: “What church do you go to?”
As soon as I mentioned ‘church’ he shut down… didn’t really want to talk…. He tried really hard to avoid the subject…. But I gently kept pressing him.
Finally he replied: “I have no desire to go to church”
I said: “Oh, You don’t go to church? Why not?”
He said: “I used to go but I saw way too many hypocrites so I quit going… now I’m an agnostic.”
I cringed and said: “Man, I’m sorry about all the hypocrisy you’ve seen… You know, I’m actually here to encourage you to not go to church… in fact, I’d say that hypocritical Christians basically prove that God doesn’t exist…. forget agnosticism, you should be a full blown atheist.”
At this point our taxi driver totally changed and really started to open up… but in a way I hadn’t anticipated… He said: “Well, I wouldn’t go that far… I mean not all Christians are hypocrites. I’ve met some really amazing ones too.”
I replied: “Well, a few bad apples are enough to make the whole batch rotten… I still don’t think you should go to church and please don’t read the Bible… that book is absolutely full of stories about hypocrites!”
Now our driver was really skeptical of my advice and said: “I haven’t had too much interest in the Bible but now you’re actually making me want to read it, I don’t think it can be all that bad.” ….
He then proceeded to try to convince me that church IS a good place and we all should attend somewhere…
Then he launched into a story about how he had been deathly ill as a kid and how Jesus had healed him….. but over the years he had drifted away and has now arrived at this point of agnosticism.
I responded: “Wow, you were actually healed by Jesus and now, because of a few hypocrites at church you don’t even recognize Gods existence?”
At this point he kinda looked embarrassed….
I said: “Have you ever been to a gym and seen a few people there that looked fat and outa shape?”
He said: “Yes”
I replied: “What do those fatsos think they’re doing in that gym… what a bunch of hypocrites!”
He said: “Well, they’re trying to….” He paused and then as if a lightbulb went on…. He said: “Oh, I get it”…
I quickly showed him Romans 5:8 and then we finished up the ride with a great conversation about how Jesus died and rose again for hypocrites like all of us.
Please pray for Julio!
Missions quote of the day by Leonard Ravenhill: “There are two kinds of people in the world—only two kinds. Not black or white, rich or poor, but those either dead in sin or dead to sin.”
Micah for the Tuttles
