our last beach outreach

finally i have internet again! our wireless has been down for the last week...needless to say i have a lot to catch up on! i'll start with last saturday--the final group beach outreach of project! That is hard to believe. I know that the Lord is not finished here yet--more people still will hear about Him and believe before we leave. I definitely feel a sense of urgency to keep getting out there and sharing with people, to leave this project with a bang. Today I got to share the Gospel with three more people—Janice, Eric, and Jessica. They were really responsive to our image survey and gave creative, well-thought answers to all of my questions. The answers they were giving (frustration with life, feeling like God is behind a locked door…) really led me to believe that they were searching. I shared the Gospel with them and asked what they thought about it. Eric led the charge—he responded by saying that everything I had spoken to him was a lie, that Jesus was a mythical figure who never existed, that God does exist but may not be perfect and people can’t have a relationship with him, that the church was created to subject people to authority and tell them they’re bad...a lot of bitterness and mistrust. With as much grace as possible, I talked through these things with him. It was a conversation that really challenged me to apply my knowledge of some things that I, too, thought about before I trusted Christ. He really would not hear what I had to say; his mind and heart were definitely closed to the things I was telling him. As I walked away from our discussion, my heart was really broken for the people of this world. Here was a guy, about my age, who was completely deceived, trapped by pride and complacency from realizing the hope and grace extended to him. This is really Satan’s biggest ploy—convincing people that they are smarter, that the world will never get any better. I am grateful for this conversation: first, praise be to God that he has heard the truth at least once; second, what a way to break my heart for the people in this world; third, excellent practice for the attitudes and perspectives I will come across at USC in the fall. I am not discouraged or defeated but rather ever more ambitious in pursuing the kingdom of God!