3 BIG Reminders

Three BIG reminders about the importance of sharing the Gospel as often as possible!

I serve as Senior Chaplain with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office. When I returned home from preaching Sunday morning, I turned on my Sheriff’s Office radio to check on activity in our county. Almost immediately I heard a call for deputies to respond to suicide threats at a house a few miles from me. I went to the scene where a despondent man, about 45, spoke of how his life had caved in and he was thinking of ending it. I thought, “If only someone had told him about the hope in Christ Jesus”.

After he was taken to the local hospital, I learned of a suicide on the south end of our county. I responded to the scene where a 35 year old mother had taken her life with a hand gun. She had been reported missing the night before by her husband. This young mother had been taking some strong medications. She and her husband had an argument. He thought she had gone to bed for the night. She hadn’t. She took a gun, drove to a nearby church parking lot, wrote a note and took her life.

Several of us went to the home to tell her husband what had happened. Seeing the shock and grief of the husband, knowing a seven year old girl would no longer have a mother, and realizing how hopeless the mother must have felt, I thought, “Oh how we need to share with our neighbors and friends the love of God in Jesus our Lord.”

Then on Labor Day, I heard screaming coming from the house next door. As it turned out, a man had brought 5 young children over to confront his ex-wife and her boyfriend, my neighbor. A terrible fight ensued. My neighbor suffered a knife wound and other injuries, the ex-husband was nearly shot, and ended up being arrested with several felony charges. I was so thankful that I had lovingly shared the Gospel with my neighbor, as recently a last week. I determined to pray more for his salvation.

Since then I have thought often of the woman and man who were divorced and whose lives have been torn apart. More than them, I thought of five young children and the trauma they experienced, as well as the on-going impact this will have in their lives. I thought, “Oh God, I wish they could have found help and hope in Jesus and all this could have been avoided, beginning with their divorce.” I am praying and looking for the opportunity to share the Gospel with her and them.

Matthew, speaking of Jesus in Chapter 9, said, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few’”.

I exhort every believer, look with compassion on the people in your life –your neighbors, coworkers, classmates, friends and your own family. Be a worker in the harvest. Make sharing the Good News of Jesus a priority in your daily life!