"Lord, help me."

You just never know what the person you rub shoulders with is going through... Sometimes on Wednesday nights (if we are in Chattanooga), Becca and I plan a date night after church. We come home, we spend time together as a family in prayer and Bible reading, and then we send the kids to bed. I run out for a pizza from our favorite local pizza joint, and Becca and I spend the rest of the evening hanging out. I recently gave Mark, the manager, one of Drew' Gospel tracts. When I entered his store last night, the cooks were leaving and the assistant was stacking chairs and sweeping the place out. Mark handed me my pizza and said, "I read your son's story, and was deeply touched. I needed that, Mr. Ben. Thank you for sharing that." He went on to open up his heart. He shared some of his struggles, desires, and life issues. As my pizza cooled and the store closed, Mark and I discussed life, the Bible, and the answers found in Jesus Christ. Mark assured me that he was a believer, but admitted that he was not where he wanted to be spiritually. I asked Mark if I could pray for him, his wife and his 2 children. He looked surprised, but immediately said, "sure." Right there, on either side of the counter, Mark and I entered the throne room of heaven and worshiped the Lord like the Canaanite women I read about this morning in Matthew 15:25 who said, "Lord, help me." With emotion brimming in his eyes, Mark and I shook hands, and I headed home. I don't know what God has planned, but I am looking forward to following up with Mark when possible. I share this story to encourage you to keep your eyes lifted up today. Lift up your eyes on high (Isaiah 40:26), and then lift up your eyes on the harvest (John 4:35). Every person we meet today needs Christ or could use some encouragement. Share Christ with others today. :) Kingdom first!

If any man will come after me...

I saw in a dream that I was in the Celestial City – though when and how I got there I could not tell. I was one of a great multitude which no man could number, from all countries and peoples and times and ages. Somehow I found that the saint who stood next to me had been in Heaven more than 1,860 years. “Who are you?” I said to him. (We both spoke the same language of heavenly Canaan, so that I understood him and he me.) “I,” said he, “was a Roman Christian; I lived in the days of the Apostle Paul, I was one of those who died in Nero’s persecutions. I was covered with pitch and fastened to a stake and set on fire to light up Nero’s gardens.” “How awful!” I exclaimed. “No,” he said, “I was glad to do something for Jesus. He died on the cross for me.” The man on the other side then spoke: “I have been in Heaven only a few hundred years. I came from an island in the South Seas – Erromanga. John Williams, a missionary, came and told me about Jesus, and I too learned to love Him. My fellow-countrymen killed the missionary, and they caught and bound me. I was beaten until I fainted and they thought I was dead, but I revived. The next day they knocked me on the head, cooked and ate me.” “How terrible!” I said. “No,” he answered, “I was glad to die as a Christian. You see the missionaries had told me that Jesus was scourged and crowned with thorns for me.” Then they both turned to me and said, “What did you suffer for Him? Or did you sell what you had for the money which sent men like John Williams to tell the heathen about Jesus?” And I was speechless. And while they both were looking at me with sorrowful eyes, I awoke, and it was a dream! But I lay on my soft bed awake for hours, thinking of the money I had wasted on my own pleasures; or my extra clothing, and costly car, and many luxuries; and I realized that I did not know what the words of Jesus meant: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). ~Original Source Unknown

William Haslam

You remember when William Haslam, that English clergyman, was converted. He preached with such power that he won every member of his perish to Christ. There was not a person living in the Baldhu section of Cornwall who had not confessed the Lord. Then he became greatly concerned about his neighbors, so he began preaching in adjoining parishes and winning souls there. The other ministers became upset over it, and sent in their objections to the Bishop, saying, "Mr. Haslam is interfering with our work. He is poaching in our parishes, telling our people that they have to be converted and need to be born again." The Bishop sent for William Haslam and said, "I understand you are preaching all the time. You don't seem to be doing anything else." William Haslam replied, "My lord bishop, I assure you I preach only two seasons of the year." "Oh," said the Bishop, "I am glad to know that. And what seasons are they?" "In season and out of season," replied William Haslam. That is the charge that comes to everyone of us if we really know Christ. It is not just for official proclaiming of the Word, not just for pastors and elders, but for all Christians. Let us be instant in season and out of season in winning precious souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. ~H.A. Ironside in his commentary on 1 Timothy through Philemon, page 160.