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Old 04-15-2009, 03:39 PM
Winman Winman is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 464
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Hang in there Cliff and welcome to the forums. And do not be discouraged, you may be doing more for the Lord than you realize. You know, the closer we get to God, the worse we look and seem ourselves. I have always been comforted by Paul's words in Romans.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I am astounded by this verse. If one of God's greatest servants saw himself as a wretched sinner, then no doubt we shall too.

I think we all go through this. Back in February, I had to go down to Florida as my Dad passed away. There was much to do with a funeral service, and myself and my two brothers had to completely clear everything out of my Dad's home. Man, it is amazing what an 80 year old man can accumulate, it took us three full days to pack everything.

But I have been praying for my Dad for years. He was not an atheist, he always expressed a belief in God, and I remember him clearly saying that God was good to him and often helped him when I was a boy. But he was not religious, never attended church, never read the Bible or spoke of Christ. He was raised Methodist as a boy, which was a pretty good church back then.

I did invite him to come see an evangelist many years ago, and even convinced him to go down at the invitation. When he came back I asked if he had received Christ and he said that he "thought" he had done that before.

I didn't know how to take that really. It gave me hope that he had received Christ at an earlier time, but it really wasn't the kind of statement that gives you assurance and certainty. So I continued to worry and pray for him for many years.

And it was difficult to speak of Christ to him, he really did not like to discuss religion whatsoever. As he got older he became more tempermental which made it even more difficult. Then the last year as his health really began to deteriorate, I prayed more and more for him.

He passed away suddenly. My older brother had actually called me that morning and told me Dad was recovering very well and getting stronger every day. This filled me with hope that I still had time to witness to him. Then that very evening my brother called back and said Dad was gone.

You know, I went over everything. Did I try hard enough? Could I have done more?

And then when my brothers and I were packing, my brother handed me a letter I had mailed my Dad back in the 80s. I had long forgotten about this letter. I opened it and read. I had written about 5 or 6 pages in detail explaining to my Dad that we were all sinners, that Jesus had come and died or us, taking our sins upon himself, and rising from the dead. There was even a very good salvation tract inside. I pleaded with my Dad, as I loved him very much and wanted him to be saved.

And then, a day later we visited a neighbor who I have not seen in over 20 years. Now this man was a good Christian who used to always talk to me of Christ when I was young. He is in his mid 70s now, but still in good health. Well, he told me something again I had completely forgotten, that I had led his son to the Lord many years ago. I said "I did?" He said, "Yes, and he still talks about you all the time."

This is not about me. I am not nearly the Christian I should be, and I have been very convicted about that lately. But I told you this story so that you might not be so discouraged. You may have done more for Jesus than you realize. You may or may not find out about it in this life, but you surely will in the next.

So, just do what you can. I used to be a saleman years ago and travelled alot. I used to carry Bible tracts and leave them everywhere. I have no idea if folks got saved from them, but I surely hope so.

Sorry for the long post, and once again Welcome to the forum.

Last edited by Winman; 04-15-2009 at 03:53 PM.