Broke Bike Evangelism

I went to do some odd jobs at the church last Thursday and as I worked I noticed four raggedy little heads peering at me from the crumbling fence that separates the church property from the "house next door" (the words are in quotes, because if you saw "the house" you would probably place the words between ? Marks).
"Pasthdoor, comeer!" Thadeu, is three years old but he is still sucking a pacifier which makes his "three-year-old Portuguese even harder to understand. "Can we wide your bike?"

I had ridden Jackson's bike to work and Thadeu and his siblings: Marcia, Eduardo, and Edson were enthralled! "Our dad had two bikes, but one of them boke and he gave the udder one away."

For the next half an hour seven kids (Edson, Marcia, Eduardo, Samuel, Mateus, Jacklyn, and Maria Julia) took turns taking the Schwinn for a spin around the parking lot. I winced a few times as they whizzed by on a rapid rush down the ramp that runs beside the church, and I noticed an argument breaking out each time that Samuel asked his little brother, Mateus, if he could borrow his bike. "NO!" was always the reply. Samuel's bike was in disrepair with a loose chain, no brakes, a twisted handle bar, among other things and I promised that I would be back after lunch to try and fix it up a bit.

As I returned and dove into the overhaul of Samuel's beat up little two-wheeler it didn't take long for the same crowd to gather. I struggled with the rusted lug nuts and a very corroded chain but was able to get the wheels working and prayed that I didn't break something else in the process. During the work I began thinking of "Broke Bike Evangelism" (I realize that it is not the best English).

As I sat watching the kids, one of their grandmothers came over to talk. Clarinda is 78 and has been invited to church on a number of occasions. Her three older daughters are all Mormons and when I asked her about her beliefs she said that she had been raised in the Roman Catholic church. "Do you go to church?" I asked. "No, I don't like the Catholic Church. I like evangelical churches much better."

"Evangelical" is an all encompassing word here in Brazil. Everything from A to Z comes under the large umbrella of evangelicalism. "So, what do you like about evangelical churches?" I asked. ''I like their music and the way they pray. It is so beautiful, don't you think!" She caught me off guard with the beautiful prayer comment. But our prayers are beautiful, aren't they.

I continued the conversation with Clarinda by asking if she ever goes to an evangelical church of any kind? I knew that she didn't come to ours. "No. I just watch them on TV."

As I shared the Gospel with this religiously baffled grandmother I couldn't help thinking about the contrast between her jumbled religiosity and the the relatively simple beliefs of the kids riding their bikes on our parking lot, most of whom came to our VBS just a couple of weeks ago. I decided then and there that this type of conversation needed to be a continuing effort. Could God use a bike, broken or otherwise, to begin the trip down a new life path, THE Way? Jesus used a lot of interesting and common things in His ministry. I don't know why He couldn't use a Schwinn!

Tottering!

I was watching my one year old grandson, Brandon, today. He had on some baggy little shorts, weird flip-flops over his socks, and he was tottering. It made me think about how I often feel these days. Funny how that when we are little and "innocent" and tottering in our baggy pants, with our little potbelly sticking out from under our t-shirt we look precious. When we are older and tottering in our low slung trousers and the same potbelly, we looks pathetic! I guess that the two drastically opposite points of view are based on the viewer's chronological perspective. Brandon is growing and I'm dying. He is cute because the little guy has a lot to learn and we love to see him progress. The old guy has already had his chance at learning and what he is progressing toward is not quite so much fun to ponder. When I have these weird thoughts I praise my God because He never lets go of my hand whether a tottering little guy or an old one. And I found this verse to prove my po...

What Are You Worth?

What are you Worth? Have you ever thought about what you are worth? In investing circles there is a term used to gauge this exact question, it's called Net Worth. You take all of your assets, like property owned, funds in your bank account, clothes, jewelry, car, etc.. You total all of these things. You then take everything you owe, like mortgage, car loan, and credit card debt, and you subtract these items from the first total. This gives you your net worth. That number represents where you are financially. Most people never stop to think about this number because they don't understand anything about it. They never have two nickels to rub together. They live from hand to mouth and know (or at least believe) nothing will ever change so, they fall into the "daily grind" mentality. Psalm 49 should be a great encouragement to such as these. The sons of Korah write about them. These sons write about all of us. They call all people everywhere to listen to their wisdom. Bo...

Church Isn't a Place

Many times we say, I'm going to church on Sunday. What some fail to understand is that "church" isn't a building. I remember our pastor saying, "the church is an organism, not an organization." He was teaching us the Bible truth about the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and the church is his body on earth. Another pastor once said, "God's hands have human fingers." This is a difficult concept for some to grasp, pun intended. However, it is important to understand that God accomplishes his work through human beings. He uses us, the church, to do his will and work. It's not that if we don't do his will that he is stymied. But he does use willing servants. To be in the church, one must be a part of the family. You cannot be in the church if you don't have the Savior. The church is not for the lost; it is for the edification of the saved. The lost can come and hear the message of salvation. But the church is made up of t...

jewellpage.com

Search This Blog