A Favorite Fishing Hole: County Fair

I was sitting down to rest at the county fair, watching thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world walk past me. I wanted to talk to them all. I wished I knew how to speak their languages. Behind each person’s beautiful eyes, lies an eternal soul with a destiny. What is this feeling? It is painful. It hurts. It is hard to describe. I prayed for His redeeming mercy. I prayed for those He would add to His Kingdom, and asked the Lord for opportunity to be a carrier of the Good News to His lost sheep.

First I went to visit my Senegalese friend who mans the “One Love-Bob Marley-Drugs as religion” booth. He immediately remembered our conversation from last year and brought up the things we spoke of. He introduced me to his friend, also from Senegal, then he asked me to tell them something important. I told him there is only one God, the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ; the only One who can forgive sins. We talked about this for a while, until customers arrived. I gave him a Gospel website link. Maybe I’ll see him again next year.

At the “Legion of Mary” table, I talked to a young Catholic woman who tried very hard to convince me of the importance of “Roman Church tradition and Papal infallibility”; that Mary is the mediator between us and Jesus, and hears and answers our prayers. Mary was being exalted (as a “goddess”) at this table. I started with Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus and then spoke Truth from Hebrews regarding Jesus being the only mediator (and Savior) between God and men. Then I shared my testimony of how after being told to work for my salvation by being a good Catholic, Jesus revealed Himself to me that salvation is through Jesus alone, by faith alone. I said I was telling her these things because I care about her and I could see she was becoming affected by what she was hearing. She said she would read the Bible for herself.

“I believe in Jesus, but I don’t know who he is. Who is he?” ~Joel

A man was standing there wearing a t-shirt that said, “My peace is growing”. He was also wearing a huge cross necklace. So I walked up to him and asked him what his peace was. He said, “I believe in Jesus but I don’t know who He is.” I told him I knew Who He is. He asked me to tell him! So I got to share the entire Gospel, starting with God’s attributes, and man’s sin, and judgment. Then I told him Who Jesus is, and what He did for us, that we might be forgiven by faith in Him. This man, named Joel, stood still soberly listening to every word about the One who came to bring peace between sinful men and the Holy God.

Sitting on a park bench I began a conversation with a man in Spanish. After sharing the Gospel with him for a while, I found out he is a J.W. He tried laying on the J.W. doctrine, but God helped me remember how to tell him that Jesus is God, (John1:1) as well as what He did, in Spanish.

A large group of teen boys were standing around, asking passersby a question. I went up to them and asked them what they were doing. They were seeing if anyone leaving had a carnival wristband they would be willing to give away to them. I hardly ever do “MDBs”, but I pulled out my two Obama millions from my bag and gave them to the boys. I can’t believe how excited they were. They kept asking me if they were real money! After asking them the “million dollar question”, one boy, Erik, answered, “I hope I go to heaven”. Of course, his hopes were based on his perceived goodness and the fact that he “does religion” according to tradition. This opened up the blessed opportunity to speak with this group of boys while they heard of the Attributes of God, the Truth of sin and judgment and the Hope of reconciliation through faith in Jesus Christ. Most of the boys took off but Erik remained with me- he wanted to hear more about forgiveness through the person and work of the Holy, Righteous, Merciful Lord Jesus.