I read this several months back and thought it was worth sharing. God bless. :)
March 10, 2011 by Glenn Parker
I went with the local Gideons out to one of the area high schools last week to hand out New Testaments to the kids as they got out of school. We’ve been kicked out of the public schools for a long time now, so we just stand across the street from the school near one of the major crosswalks. One of the things that really bugs me is that even though we’re standing on a public sidewalk and have every right as American citizens to be there, some people call the cops on us! I guess freedom only applies as long as you’re doing what other people like.
No one called the cops on us last week (thank You Lord!). In fact, it was pretty tame compared to past years. Two years ago, one of the Gideons gave a kid a Testament, and the kid went to the parking lot behind where the Gideons were standing, lit the little Testament on fire, then threw it at the Gideon and hit him on the back. There were no injuries, and the Gideon’s coat wasn’t burned or anything, but you have to wonder about the state of that kid’s heart to do something so disgraceful. Worse yet, what must his parents be like?
Last year when I was there at the same spot handing out Testaments, we heard a commotion in the parking lot behind us. I turned around just in time to see that some of the kids had piled up their Testaments and were jumping them on their skateboards. Shameful. Now it hasn’t been THAT many years since I was in high school (okay, be nice ) and I could not imagine someone being that shameful at my high school. Of course, not everyone there was a professing Christian, but everyone had respect for the Bible.
Well, this year I had my five year old son with me. Since he’s not a Gideon, he’s not allowed to hand out the Testaments but that didn’t stop him from evangelizing! He told me to load him up with Gospel tracts and he stood next to me handing them out as fast as he could. (Sometimes I get really convicted that I’m not as bold as him)
He would wave his hand over his head and say “Gospel messages! Who wants a Gospel message?” Of course, I was thinking to myself “You can’t just announce that you have Gospel messages. Nobody’s gonna want one!” And of course I was wrong. I was really encouraged to see people steer toward him to take a Gospel message from the cute little boy. In fact, several people took a tract from him but refused a New Testament from me!
About half way through the distribution we heard a commotion behind us. I turned around just in time to see four guys throwing the New Testaments at each other as hard as they could. As soon as one would hit the ground, they’d pick it up and fling it again at one of their buddies. I was somewhat in shock at what I was seeing, and one of the guys who hadn’t joined in the fun turned around and saw me looking at them. A look came over him like he was ashamed of his friends, but then he did something that I didn’t expect. He was still holding his New Testament, and he came walking up to me and said “Sir, I’d like to give this back to you because I’m not going to use it.” I wanted to say many things, but all I could get out was “Okay. Thank you.” The look on his face told me about the turmoil going on in his own spirit, and I pray that God will keep stirring him.
About that time my son said “Daddy, why would people throw their Bibles like that?” I had to explain to him that not everyone loves God, and some people even hate Him. I could tell that he really didn’t understand. Honestly, neither do I.
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