Greetings In Jesus' Name from Naples, Italy, I had just completed ferrying the last few things in our second trip this Saturday morning from the old church building in Casal di Principe to the new church in Lago Patria. A bit of hunger was setting in as I hadn't eaten anything yet today, although I did down a half glass of milk before heading over to get this all wrapped up today. After unloading the final load, and locking the front door, I walked next door to order a pizza.
Sitting at a table on the porch before the entrance was a tall, well built black man, the only person around. After ordering the meal I went back out to await it's preparation. Eyeing the guy still sitting there, I reasoned that he wasn't one of the numerous African refugees, but that he was probably an American sailor from the nearby base, because of his close cropped hair, and very neat appearance.
Everybody who knows me also knows that I'm always looking for a way to strike up a conversation (with the motive of having a chance to tell about Christ's gospel of salvation). I called out, "how's it going squid?" (Squid is what Marines call sailors, and they have their own endearing terms for us Marines.) With a big smile on his face Jimmy Holmes answered back, "well, I haven't heard that for awhile." 'Good, now we've got something going,' I thought to myself, and I proceeded to engage him in conversation. Just small talk to start with, and I found out that he works with computers at the Navy Base, Capodichino, but he lives here in Lago Patria, pretty near the church; Jimmy is also from Mobile, Alabama.
Now, maybe I ought to inject something here. I've realized a long time ago that The Lord has prepared me, He has worked many things out in my life that specifically orients me in a little different direction than some others, and the way that I do things is a little differently than some other folks. I don't work like maybe you do, but it works for me. How's it working for you? Are you applying what The Lord has put in your life? There's an awful lot of Christians who would be turned away from John the Baptist, and we can see in the Bible that many didn't necessarily agree with the way the Apostle Paul did things. Personally, I think it would have been an honor to sit under their ministry, and I'm sure that I would have learned a lot, and would have been greatly enriched while I had the opportunity, even though they may not have done things the way I do things. Anyhow, my mode of operation reflects what The Lord has prepared me for.
Now satan knows me and that maggot tried to interfere immediately in my dealing with Jimmy by bringing some Italian crazy man over waving a card of some sort. He sat dawn across the plastic patio table and started talking in some foreign language -probably Italian- and about that time Jimmy had had enough and arose to go across the street to retrieve his car that was being cleaned and serviced at a automobile cleaning station.
I stood up too, and said "hey Jimmy are you saved, if you died today will you go to Heaven?" Well, that kind of caught him off guard, like a sucker punch right between the eyes, and he stuttered, "w-well I ha ha hope I'll go to Heaven.
I said, "Jimmy, did you know that God says we can know for sure! After talking to him a minute more, I asked him to sit back down at this other table, and I ran out to my car to get my pistol (that's what I call my small Bible that I use for soul winning).
About fifteen minutes later Jimmy was praying right there at the patio table to receive Jesus Christ, I looked at my watch and it said 1225. I gave him a couple tracts and encouraged him to come to the church services in the morning, then I turned to go inside and retrieve my now luke-warm pizza. As I was about to enter the door, that squid called out something like, "hey, pastor thank you for talking to me, I guess this was kind of preordained or something like that, huh!" Yes, Jimmy, it was - a whole lot more than you know! (The Lord had prepared Jimmy, and He had prepared me to deal with Jimmy too - in just the exact right manner that it needed to be done.)
Well, I got my pizza to take home for Linda and me to have for lunch, but I also stopped at the table again to write Jimmy's name, and the date in the pages of my Bible. I've got a bunch of names in this one, as well as several others, since I try to write the names of the souls saved in whichever Bible I'm using. Winning souls to Christ is the Main Thing ya know! The Bible tells us that "He that winneth souls is wise...." And, the Bible also tells us "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." There's a lot of things that we do that will bring rewards through eternity, but personally I think that winning others to Christ is the greatest thing that we can do. We look up to a lot of people for the position they hold here on this earth, but The Lord tells us "the first shall be last and the last shall be first." I sure hope there's some folks out there who will remember to "keep the main thing, the main thing!"
Pray for Boldness, and go out and tell someone about what Christ has done for you!
Respectfully, Chuck Truitt sends