Overcoming Fear of Man!

Another good title for this post would be “Giving Directions (a wonderful way to share)”.

While on my walk this morning I saw a large truck with roofing supplies drive by. Since the street I walk on has several new housing developments, I assumed they were headed for one of them. Sure enough, as I approached my turn-around point I saw the truck parked by the exit to one of the developments. In fact, he was blocking where I needed to cross the street and rolled back a few feet as I walked past (I smiled and waved at him – I always try to be friendly). Shortly thereafter I hit the turn around point and started back, and saw the truck still parked there.

I figured he was lost and wondered if I should stop and see if I could help, and perhaps have an opportunity to witness. I quickly figured it wasn’t a good idea as I was busy, I’m not very familiar with the new developments in town and probably wouldn’t be able to help him, and he was probably already late for making a delivery. (It’s amazing how quickly logical reasons why not to share the gospel come to mind in various situations) But when the Lord reminded me I would probably never see him again and it wouldn’t hurt to stop and try, I walked up to the truck (passenger side – there were two fellows in the cab), and then climbed up the step as they rolled down the window.

They were both Hispanic, but spoke rather good English (the driver much better than his helper). They had a map and were looking for a particular development – the name of which rang a bell but I couldn’t recall where it was. We chatted about the delivery for a minute or two (they had called their boss for more info and were waiting to hear back) when I pulled out some million dollar bills and asked if they had seen them before. They hadn’t.

The helper was handing it back when I said they could keep them. I shared that it was a gospel tract, and said the back had something similar to the ‘good person’ test that talks about the ten commandments. I asked if they had ever heard of the ten commandments and they said no. I asked if they go to church, and the driver said sometimes. So, we started into the test. There were occasional language issues – for example, at first he said he had never told a lie. As I questioned him further, he realized what I was asking and said ‘yes’ – he does that daily! His helper was engrossed in the map at this point and, since he didn’t understand as much English, I kept talking with the driver.

Next we discussed stealing (he admitted to that), blasphemy (readily admitted), and murder of the heart (also readily admitted) – and he understood as I shared how God would look at this heart – and how he had a conscience that tells him when he does something wrong. When I asked if he were to die and God were to judge him based on those commandments if he would be innocent or guilty, he thought for a moment and said ‘guilty’. When I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, he said he wasn’t sure.

I didn’t belabor the point but explained how all crime should have a punishment, and if we break God’s law it is fair and reasonable to expect punishment. He agreed. We went through some of the various analogies: a guilty criminal before a good judge, the futility of trying to simply live better (“judge, I promise I’ll never murder someone again”), the value of his soul compared to his eyes, the blessings of his family and job that the Lord has given him.

It was a little awkward hanging onto the mirror and standing on the fuel tank/step while talking, but it was the only option. We spent about twenty minutes talking, and then I gave them some more tracts and they headed off (they waved several times as they drove off).

My only regret was not encouraging him where to read when we talked about Bible reading. He had a Bible at his house (in Spanish – I told him my Bible at home is English and Spanish since I’m trying to learn some Spanish) and I did encourage him to read it as he gets right with God, but I didn’t encourage him to read in the book of John.