We are about to
embark on an adventure through the world of imagination, where random thoughts
and mindful meanderings blend. We are going to travel through the electrical impulses
firing in our brains to open the world of possibilities. We are about to step
into “The Christian What If Zone.”
Ok, that may have
been a little dramatic, but I wanted to lead into this by making the point that
this will be an exercise of the imagination. So, please indulge me with this.
Imagine,
if you will, you are in your church sitting in one of the pews. You and several
others are attending a prayer service. The pastor is leading the time and has
just asked for everyone to pray for the people of the surrounding community,
the lost, the lonely, those in need, and those who are hurting. You close your
eyes. The church is silent as you pray,
but if you are honest your mind is wandering.
After
a few minutes, you start hearing people and cars. At first the noise seems very
distant, but it gradually gets louder. You also notice the smell of exhaust and
food cooking. Is that the smell of hot dogs? The impressions are faint
that at first. It seems like your imagination is getting the best of you, but as
they slowly become more intense you start to realize there is something happening
around you. A car horn blares loudly close by. You open your eyes, and you are
shocked to find that you are not sitting in the church any longer. You are now
sitting outside on a bench in the middle of a large city. There beside you on
the bench is a newspaper. It is the New York Post, and you notice one of the
articles on the front page is about President Bush. You stand up and look
around to figure out exactly where you are. Then you notice the two buildings
standing before you. You quickly look at the date on the paper, September 10th,
2001. You lift your eyes and see the Twin Towers standing before you.
As
you stand there looking, you watch people coming and going out of the building.
They are going about their business, and they have no idea what is about to
happen. They do not know that the buildings are going to be destroyed in a
terrorist attack the next day. The attack will kill around three thousand
people. They do not know, but you do. Watching the people going about their
business your heart breaks for them. You cannot explain how you got here at
this time, and you do not know how much time you have before you are pulled back
into your own time. Still, you are here, and you know what is coming. So, here
is the question. What would you do with the time you have? Take time to think
about that.
I am using this
to help us get the feeling of where we are as Christians. We cannot go back and
save the people in the Twin Towers, although I wish we could, but we do find
ourselves in a similar predicament. We know the future because we have the
Bible. We know that God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son,
John 3:16. We know that he did not send
his Son here to condemn the world. Jesus was sent here to save the world. We
have the knowledge of God’s love and the sacrifice on the cross that can save
people from a terrible torment. Like the person in the “What If” story we do
not know how much time we have before we are pulled out of here. We also know
that time is short. We cannot just sit and do nothing. We must try. We must
help bring as many people to safety and to home as we can. We must find that
same urgency in our evangelism. Let us not waste a moment. Reach out, share the hope, and be the light
in someone’s life today.
Prayers: Please pray for the lost in your community
and around the world. Start a discussion
with those you know. I believe most people come to Christ because someone loved
them enough to reach out to them.
Salvation's Path
(allsoulscount.com) This is a link to All Souls Count’s web site. Feel free
to print the All Souls Count article on salvation if you would like to share
with someone you would like to reach.
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