Part 2: "Does anyone get Saved Anymore?"

I was driving down the road with my boys the other day. Usually I am the one calling our family to a "Throwdown", but this time, my boys called one on me!

We were discussing how I used to be a youth pastor. I was in ministry for 8 years. Somehow, my boys and I got around to talking about some of the things I have seen over the years...the ugly side of humanity. Also, for the last 4 years I have been a Membership Rep. I go into various homes each day and have seen all sorts of things! My oldest son, Wesley, turns to me and says, "I have wondered why you are not a pastor anymore, but now I know. He took you out of that so you could go into these homes everyday and share about Jesus..." OUCH! Whoa now, I'm the one who does the Throwdowns around here! That cut me to the quick. I have prayed with people over the years and have shared a little...but not in the way my son was suggesting. I'll get to this later...

Does anyone get saved anymore? My friend here in Knoxville recently prayed for two people to receive Christ...one a mormon and one a salesman, both came to his door. The story was awesome! I was so pumped up after I heard it. My friend Paul and my son Wesley challenged me...

Look at the picture on the right again. I know, you are sick of it but it is just to cool.

After viewing Homer's work in a National Academy exhibition, one critic remarked that his paintings had a "rude vigor and grim force that is almost a tonic in the midst of the namby-pambyism of many of the other pictures on display." I love this quote! Because Saving someone's life requires no "namby-pambyism "! My son called out my guts...but what kind of guts?

Courage is essential in the Christian Life. Courage takes guts, and to share the gospel is not for the faint of heart. But I believe there is a deeper level of guts that we need...and Jesus had it!

Matthew 14:14 says that "Jesus had Compassion on them"...speaking of the crowds. That word, Compassion, literally means he "felt it in his guts". I believe gut level compassion will always move us...even when fear is all around us.

I started praying. "God just give me Compassion for one every day!" So the other day, my boys and I were in the mall. I prayed earlier that morning, "God give me compassion for one." I wasn't even thinking about my prayer and my guts stirred. A Muslim man selling shades at the mall. Fear started to come in...and I almost left, but compassion and obedience were calling. I went back, shared that Jesus loved him, and asked if I could pray for him. He declined, but the seed was planted. My boys were a little perplexed but then we had a great talk about the Spirit of God moving...even at the mall. Wesley was excited.

It is one thing to blog about this and another thing to do it. I remember the line in Keith Green's song, "The Sheep and the Goats"..."The only diffrence between the sheep and the goats is what they did...and didn't DO!!!! I know Calvin and Luther would roll in their graves...

So I am on a journey everyday, "God give me compassion for one!" I am excited to see what happens in the coming month.

Also, if you could vote on the poll question, I would appreciate it.