"Stone Cold" in Finlay Park (part 1)

"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root." (Mark 4:3-6)

Our Saturday, June 28 evangelism outing almost got rained out. Don't get me wrong, we need the rain badly, and when it came I was so thankful for God's provision. Storms amaze me as they remind me of how awesome our God is: He makes lakes float above our heads and makes them leak to the earth--sometimes it seems like the water falls all at once, but it doesn't. The torrents still demonstrate His control. He sends out lightning to decorate the sky. Thunder rolls and echoes through the walls of those watery canyons and the earth. His voice is like thunder . . . During a storm I can only stand at the window and praise God.

Five of us gathered for Bible study, prayer and worship while the rain fell. We are taking a closer look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Mark, taking special care to see how He did evangelism. In the first chapter we saw (to name a few principles):

1. The centrality of preaching for the forgiveness of sins in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ;

2. The necessity of being filled with the Spirit to begin and sustain ministry. This not only reflects our obedience to our Lord but our separation from the world, resting in the assurance that God will accomplish what He has set out to do;

3. The authority of God through the Spirit as we teach others, model, admonish and lead;

4. The need for compassion, being genuine, and ready for the spectacular.

By the time we finished our study and prayer time, the rain stopped and we made our way to Finlay Park. Our drive-by confirmed that the concert was still "go" so we parked on the next block, strapped on our backpacks of tracts and books and walked over, only to be confronted by this sign:



So tramp, tramp, tramp we stamped back to the car. Drop off the backpacks and strap on the fanny-packs. Better follow the rules!

We got back to the entrance and split up. Joe went right to work, spending a good amount of time talking with this guy:

I found two men and a lady sitting on a park bench. By the time I approached with my Million Dollar Bills, another younger lady joined us. I passed out the bills and we enjoyed the moment of wishing they were real. As one man (who never smiled) tried to hand the bill back to me (why take it if it was not real?) I became aware the other man was drunk. The young lady asked if she could have the other for her husband--they got one last week (!)and wanted more. I asked her why she wanted more--did they notice the "Million Dollar Question" on the back?
No, they had not.

Could I change the bills so they could become legal? No, that would be stealing . . . and lying.

"Would you consider yourself to be a 'good person?'" I asked both ladies and men. Mr. Frowny maintained his composure and the others said yes, they were "good people."

"Do you think you've kept the Ten Commandments?" Mr. Drunk sloshed his words about being good and the older lady on the bench turned the bill over between two fingers and looked at the back. The younger lady said she had broken them all . . . "except," she said proudly, "I have not committed adultery."

Now, if I am talking to a woman in a one-on-one situation, this is one place I will not go. I would rather ask about murder than adultery, or honoring parents. Since we were in mixed company (and because she brought it up) I though it would be alright to go ahead. "Jesus said that if you look with lust you've committed adultery. Have you done that . . . looked with lust?"

"Waddya mean?" she asked.

"You know, looking at someone with sexual intentions? Lust." (Yikes, this is getting uncomfortable).

She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose I have."

I reiterated, "Jesus said that to look with lust is the same as adultery--so by your own admission you actually have broken the 7th Commandment . . . " I did not get to finish my thought.

The older lady on the bench shook her finger at me, raised her voice and scolded me for not giving the girl a chance. "That's not what Jesus said. He didn't say that. No! Beside, you did'nt give this girl a chance before you go off misquoting scripture. That's not what Jesus said."

I reached for my Bible, "Matthew 5 . . ." that's all I got out. She sat up on the edge of the bench and tried to tell me that it's all a matter of interpretation. You have to interpret what Jesus was saying.

"Well, ma'am," I began, "when Jesus said . . . " that's all I got out. I don't know if there was a big ol' angel standing there with his fingers clamping my mouth shut, or what, but all I could do is look at the woman. She sat back and crossed her arms.

"This was a good evening 'till you came around." Her voice lowered as she mumbled something about coming down the park to hear good music then somebody comes along and ruins her evening with bad preaching . . .

I told the young girl to read the back of the tract this time. Mr. Frowny and Mr. Drunk carried on in their own little worlds.

I told them to have a nice evening and thanked them for their time.

Seed sown.