I’m always trying to think of creative ways to convince people that what I believe about Jesus Christ is true. He has changed my life and my family and I will love Him forever for that. That’s one of the reasons I attend Bible conferences, to learn more about how to effectively communicate truth about the Lord Jesus.
I had an interesting experience one morning on the way to a Bible Conference.
It was a sunny late October morning in Michigan and I was attending the conference with two of my boys. My parents were also there and we had enjoyed the conference together, sharing a room. The second day of the conference we rose early and breakfasted together. We looked forward to a day of good preaching, fellowship, and singing.
We drove to the church about the time others were arriving. The church was on a busy street and it was morning rush hour busy. I was driving and as we approached the church entrance, I noticed unusual traffic congestion. I was anxious to get parked so I would not be late for the first session. I love music and if you are late that is what you miss.
I turned into the parking lot past a car blocking traffic and started to look for a parking spot. Dad turned around in his seat and said; “I think she’s dead stick.” Which was his way of saying her car was not running. “We need to help her.” Dad said. I had mixed feelings. Part of me knowing it was the right thing to do, part of me wanting to get into the service as soon as possible.
We went back and pushed her car out of the busy road into the church parking lot, fished out the jumper cables and gave her a boost. Dad gave her a nice gospel pamphlet and invited her to visit the church some time. She thanked us repeatedly and was off to work.
In a few minutes we were sitting in the church listening to a beautiful organ prelude when the irony of the situation hit me. We were an organization of Bible-believing pastors from all over the state of Michigan attending a conference on how to be more effective at reaching people who do not know the Lord. To get to the conference we had to steer around an opportunity stalled right in front of the church. And some people say the Lord doesn’t have a sense of humor. When the speaker of the hour stepped to the platform I expected him to announce that he would be preaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
If you pay attention there are people all around us who are “dead stick” and could use a boost. I like to think that some Sunday morning her car will pull into the parking lot of the church again to find out more about what makes people kind and helpful to strangers in trouble.
