past the the buzz and glow

Here is an article I wrote for the recent Hope in Christ Ministries Newsletter (pardon for the late night writing without extensive editing):

Sometimes it feels like we are in the business of “hoping against hope” (Romans 4:18). It is not only challenging to believe that some will be saved; it is often a challenge to believe that they will come at all. We cannot offer the flashy entertainment of an arcade or, like Peter and John in Acts, we don’t have the cash it would take to keep them interested; but, here is the secret, we as a staff trust that God has and is preparing a harvest. So I sat and waited. It was not like I was just waiting, I had an appointment. We were to meet at 2 o’clock. I made myself busy as the minute walked slowly around towards 3 o’clock and decided to opt for plan B: track em’ down. You see, if God was willing to leave heaven to track us down, then why shouldn’t I be willing to walk a few blocks up the street. The house where the boy lived is a frequent stop for the ministry staff as we make our afternoon rounds to minister to people. We are known by name there and are usually a welcoming distraction from the buzz and glow of the television that is a constant presence in the gloomy sitting room. The boy that I had come to see opened the door after a few knocks and invited me inside to the gloomy room, filled with the usual buzz and glow. It was a musty darkness. It was as though nothing had happened. He didn’t want to take the effort to feel, much less to care. He had already felt the emotion of defeat when he woke-up, and then came the paperwork, and the memory of yesterday’s failures, and the expectation of tomorrow’s failures. Who really would care if he left the couch at all today? Since Jesus and me did, the three of us sat down and talked about the worth of a soul—of his soul—to the one and only God of the universe. We wore new creases in our Bibles flipping from the Old Testament to the New, then back again, and again! “So what does it means to be saved? You know, for me to know that I am really saved?” He finally asked. “Well,” I began, “It means that you know and believe with your whole heart and soul and mind that Jesus—who is God and perfect—took your sins when He died, so that you can be pure and clean before God; and even more, so that you could be a son of God!” (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8) We talked on about how his title is would long “sinner,” but “son” through the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, as Jesus once explained to another on a dark and gloomy rooftop, with the buzz and glow of the city below (John 3). While we talked the darkness fled and the hum grew faint, as I am sure it did on that night long ago when Nicodemus sat with Jesus. God was all we wanted. So we kept on talking. We talked about baptism, letting the world know how good it was to be saved, living in truth and trusting the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and we ended our time in earnest prayer. O God, may we never forget the words that were spoken. May we never forget your final Word—Jesus. Thank and praise God with us for the ears that are finally being opened to hear the Gospel. “Raindrops of mercy are falling, but for the showers we plead.”