Witnessing Encounters Of TheThird Kind!

What a week! God was all over the place!!!! So it started of on Tuesday afternoon, and my brother picked me up from seminary and I was to stay at my parents place in Calgary. Patrick lives with my folks when he is in town since he is an over the road trucker. As we were pulling onto my parent's street he sees a guy outside shooting hoops. Patrick told me he has 2 packs of cigarettes and to give them to this guy, so I rolled down my window and handed him 2 packs of Marlborough's (it's hard to find them in Canada) he thanked Patrick and came around to his side of the truck and said, "Where the hell did you get these?"
"Texas." my brother replied.
"What the hell were you doing in Texas?"
"I've been an over the road trucker for about a month now."
"Get the hell out of here! My girlfriend's dad has been doing that for a while now too. I got a good job working for Hire a Husband - I'm making $25 per hour - just doing handy man work. Who the hell is this in your truck?"
"This is my brother Jason, he just moved to Medicine Hat from Texas."
"Get the hell out of here! What the f**k are you doing in Medicine Hat?"
"I am a church planter." I said.
"Expound." he said.
"Well, what I do is I find people who have an interest in God or in spirituality and I show them how the Bible applies to their lives in the 21st century."
"That is too cool!" he said, "I've been going to church for three weeks now over at Foothills Alliance."
"How do you like it?" I asked him.
"Well I've noticed a few inconsistencies." he told me.
"Tell me about some of the inconsistencies?" I asked him.
"Well, drinking." He said
"What about drinking?" I asked
"They don't drink." he said
"And the problem is...?"
"Well, I started reading the Bible - near the end - I think it's called John, and I noticed that Jesus drank wine."
"Oh, ya. He not only drank wine, He made a mother load of it also for his first miracle."
"Ok, so why don't Christians drink?"
"Well, first of all, God never told us not to drink. He told us not to get drunk. It's not because God doesn't want you to have a good time, it's because when we get drunk we don't always make the best decisions and our mind becomes under the influence of alcohol instead of under the influence of God."
"I understand now, he said."
"So, how are you and Jesus doing?" I asked him.
"Well, whenever I screw up, I ask for forgiveness."
"Try that in a court of law." I said, "You know, stand in front of the judge and tell the judge that you now understand the error of your ways and just ask him to forgive you."
"That ain't gonna fly." he told me
"I know. Now, picture yourself in the defendants booth in court and the judge says to you, 'Tanner, you have broken 10 of the strictest laws in Canada. You are guilty. You will spend the rest of your life in prison and rot there, or you can pay a $10 million fine.' Do you have the money to pay that fine Tanner?"
"No."
"So what's going to happen?"
"I'm going to rot in jail."
"That's right, but before the judge slams down the gavel to sentence you, somebody you don't know walks into the courtroom with a briefcase. He says, 'Judge, I love Tanner very much, and I have sold everything I have. Here is $10 million to pay his fine.' What would you say to that, Tanner?"
"I'd S**T MY PANTS!" he said.
"Well, get ready to crap your pants, because that's what Jesus did for you on the cross. He took your sin and put it on Himself and paid your penalty. Then He died and was buried and rose again 3 days later. He did this so you could have a relationship with God and go to heaven."
"Wow, I understand now."

That's when the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop and I gave him a brochure on our church. I told him that he probably would never come to my church, since it is 3 hours away, but to take it and it shares the Gospel a little more in the brochure. He gladly took it, and as we drove away, we could see him reading it and showing it to his girlfriend.

That was witnessing encounter # 1.

Last night I was able to lead a young lady who lives in Medicine Hat to Christ in the Calgary bus terminal.

We rode the same bus to Calgary on Tuesday and she sat a few rows behind me and asked me for a pen. She gave it back to me about half an hour later. Well last night I saw her in the Calgary terminal and we started talking. She is still in high school and is a sculptor who works with young children and handicapped children in her parents house. She teaches them how to work with clay. I told her about Riley and she is willing to work with him for free. I told her that I was a church planter. She asked what that was and I told her. She has been going to a well known church here in Medicine Hat on and off, but has never felt welcomed there. I asked her if she had ever read the Bible before, and she has never read it. I asked her if she and some of her friends would be interested in reading the Bible with me. She said that would be great. Well, I ended up sharing my testimony with her and she accepted Christ in the bus terminal.

God is awesome!