Sunny Saturday Afternoon -- HS Football Playoff

My cheeks were stinging after being out in the sun all afternoon, two Saturdays ago. We haven't had many sunny days, but the LORD gave a great day for passing out tracts at the Archbishop vs. Hoquaim playoff game at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Responses were great among the 250 spectators who received Million or Billion Dollar Bills and Round-TUIT tracts. It is encouraging to see those who have received tracts, actually read them.

God bless...

Keith

A Weekend the LORD Filled

This past weekend was a total blessing from beginning to end.

Friday at lunch I went down to the Everett Train station and passed out tracts, and engaged several people in one-on-ones. Then I stopped by the Artesian Well on 164th and passed out a few tracts, and talked with a couple of people.

Saturday was restful (I was a little bummed about missing the mens Bible study), but sleeping in felt good. Saturday evening was our regularly scheduled Prison Ministry (Forgiven Choices) meeting. Wonderful worship, excellent Bible study by Bill and a great time of communion and after-glow.

Sunday morning church at Calvary Lake Stevens was a blessing, I was saddened to hear that Pastor Jerry was in pain. I've been praying for him.

Sunday afternoon was so nice to spend with my youngest son Daniel. We went to ToysRUs and bought him an RC "Drift Racing" Nissan 350ZX car.

Then, Sunday evening visiting Calvary Chapel South Everett at the Willis Tucker Park Activity Center was sweet. I am so praying that the LORD will do a work in our community. You know it needs it if you read any of the previous posts. God bless Calvary Chapel South Everett. The young pastor there (Joel) really preached it up good! God bless the pastor and his family and all those attending. May they reach out for the LORD.

God bless...

I Met Ray Comfort

This was supposed to be a weekend of watching football, and street witnessing. Well, the streetwitnessing came to pass, in Huntington Beach California and I did watch some Pop Warner football, but I missed my nephew's high school football game.

I did end up meeting Ray Comfort, after he finished preaching the Gospel in the open air, at the street vendor fair that meets at the Huntington Beach pier on Saturdays. I handed out dozens of tracts, and had several interesting one-2-one encounters.

It was a great weekend with my mom and dad and sister and nephew. I also got to see my old Pop Warner football coach and his family.

On Sunday we attended E.V. Free church in Fullerton.

God bless...

Summer Recap

The LORD has provided several opportunities this summer to pass out tracts and witness for Him:

1. The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe (the coworker from Philips)
2. The Taste of Edmonds festival (the Jewish young man, and the beauty queens who liked the curved illusion tracts.)
3. [Multiple] The water well on 164th in Lynwood (met pastor Byungwoo Choi, and Mike who needed prayer for bladder and colon cancer)
4. [Multiple] The Snohomish County Courthouse (the lady who talked my ear off about history and the labor movement.)
5. [Multiple] The greenbelt trailhead (the latest was three guys in the little SUV who tried to shew me away, and I got the chance to speak with them anyways.)
6. Mukilteo beach passing out tracts (the Round Tuit)
7. [Multiple] Passing out tracts at fast food drive through windows.

My comfort factor was really stretched, and I didn't have quite as many one2one encounters this summer because of the "chaos on the hill" as mentioned in an earlier blog entry, but I believe God wants me to get the message out, even if I haven't completely overcome my fears and hang-ups. So I heavily used the written word to get the message out this summer.

As this summer comes to an end, I pray that next week, the LORD will send me on a few more witnessing missions, maybe to the Everett train station. I have been feeling his tug on my heart to get back out in the thick of things, in terms of giving out food to the poor.

God bless...

Tough Communicating

We've had a Japanese exchange student staying with us for the past week and a half. He is from a city called Hekinan. He's a nice kid, but kinda quiet. Some things he's done seem a little rude, but our two cultures are certainly different.

I had the opportunity to (in a VERY brief way) share the Gospel with him this afternoon as I was driving him and his friend Masaru home. I asked him if he had told a lie, and he admitted to doing that. I asked him if he had ever taken anything that didn't belong to him. He said no. I said, "what about the music you were asking my son to burn to CD for you?" I asked him if he had ever dishonored or disobeyed his parents. I said, "have your parents ever had to say No, No to you?" No he said.

I told him about Jesus, and how he had died and come back to life for him to pay the fine for his crimes.

They didn't seem to totally understand, but I was blessed to have the opportunity.

God bless...

As of 6/22/2006 - School's Out

Now that school is out, and the neighborhood kids (high school aged kids, that is) are out of school, they have been congregating at a green-belt trail that is right behind my house. Yesterday evening, I spent a total of over an hour, during two separate one2one and group witnessing/Bible sessions with approximately 16 different kids. I don't appreciate the activities the kids partake of down on the green-belt, but I'm glad for the opportunity that the LORD gives me to witness and share my faith. Please do pray for boldness and compassion for me, and peace for my wife. She's kind of uncomfortable with me going down into the "pot and beer pit".

God bless...

Chaos On The Hill

I got home late from work. While we were relaxing in the big room, after having eaten pizza, we heard a ruckus outside, so I went toward the front door to investigate. Immediately, my son said, "no dad, don't go out there." "I'm only going to see what's going on", I said. But there was something going on; a large group of teens, many of whom I had spoken with before were walking around the corner, and down the hill, on our street. As I watched, one young man began to pee on the neighbor's lawn. Again, my son said, "don't go down there dad." He was insistent, but I said, "I have to." He said, "just call the police." I said, "Okay, I'll call the police, bring me the phone." I called 911, and reported drunk and disorderly to my address, and they said they would send someone right out.

I grabbed a stack of tracks, and the mp3 player and a camera, so I could record what took place. As I walked down toward the group of teens, one whom I had witnessed to last week, was pushing Quincy around. Some other teens split them up, and I said hi to Quincy, and told him he ought to go home. Kyle said something to me, and I began to relate to him how I was so sad the other day, seeing him so high that he couldn't talk. He went ballistic. I don't quite understand why. I asked him if he remembered me praying for him, he didn't even remember. At some point, he said something about the police, and I responded, "They've already been called."

The extremely drunk one, who was belligerent to everyone came up to me and said "preacher man, go away, no one wants to listen to you." This drunk guy was a tall young man, who earlier in the week when I witnessed to him, although he was quiet, was resistant to the Gospel. Now was downright antagonistic; even threatening. "The cops have been called", I said.

I went around to each of the kids, who I hadn't witnessed to before, and handed them tracts. I tried to witness to Ashley, but the tall antagonistic kid, pulled her away, and said, "don't listen to him."

There was a girl sitting on a guy's lap in the car that was parked there, and they were making out in a very lewd and lascivious manner. I handed him a tract, and then said "Here young lady, have you gotten one of these yet?" She took it. I believe they separated at that point, I didn't want to hang around and find out what was really taking place in the front seat of that car.

Then I began to speak with a girl named "Angie?" and handed her a tract. I asked her if I could share the Gospel with her, and if she had a Christian background. She proceeded to tell me how she believed in God and had a relationship with God and had asked Jesus Christ into her heart. I asked her if she was going to heaven when she died. She said yes, and I asked how she new that. On what basis will you go to heaven, I asked, but she didn't get what I was asking. I said, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?". She said yes. I went through lying, and although she admitted to having lied, she wouldn't call herself a liar. I asked about stealing, and she admitted she had, but wouldn't call herself a thief; I helped her out. I asked her if she had lusted, she came unglued and called me a child abuser, and pervert. I said, well you've admitted to being a liar and a thief, and she was ready to tear me apart. I said, "Have you ever hated? because Jesus, the one you said you believed in, said hate was the same as murder. " She said, "I'm going to kill you." Someone, I think Quincy grabbed her and pulled her away.

Kyle and the tall angry kid, were totally blaspheming and denegrating our LORD. At this point, Kyle saw that I was carrying the mp3 player, and he said "Oh no, no you don't, no way..." He grabbed it out of my hand and pulled the battery out of it. Too bad for him, that didn't delete what was already recorded.

Then the tall angry kid, started in on me, and told me how he was going to break my glasses. I told him I wouldn't fight back, no matter what he did. He just ranted and raved at me. All the while, un-beknownst to me, my wife and boys were standing in my yard with baseball bats in their hands. Anyways, the LORD protected me, and "Perfect love casts out all fear", in my wife and boy's case.

I started to read John chapter 3 aloud, and after a few verses, the police showed up.

No one was arrested, but parents were called. Sadly though, some of the parents either couldn't be reached, or others were indeed at parties -- probably drunk themselves, so several of the kids had to be taken home by the police.

VERY DISCONCERTING... Especially, when the kids were trying to blame the whole thing on me preaching at them, and the cops said, "you were probably part of the problem. Please leave."

God bless...

Giving a Ride Home -- Telling About the Way Home

Last week, I had a couple of opportunities to give my son's friends rides home. During both rides, I told Steven and later Cody about the "Way" home. How to have eternal life. They both listened and seemed only slightly put out in talking with me.

God give us opportunities... We need to take them.

Pray up, Step Up, Speak Up.

God bless...

The Green-Belt Trailhead is an Attractive Parking Spot

Travis and Tim were sitting in their Honda which was parked next to the green-belt trailhead. I offered them Million Dollar bills and started a conversation with them. I told them that the bills were Gospel tracts, and asked if they knew what that was. They said no, so I explained the Gospel to them. They listened and were very interactive. Tim wasn't concerned enough to say he was planning on getting right with God. Travis seemed to take it all in, but I didn't perceive he was going to make any commitments either.

Therhan and his girlfriend were sitting in their Impala which was parked next to the green-belt trail head. I gave them each Million Dollar bills and was ableto share the Bad and Good News with them.

May the LORD continue to bring people literally to my backyard so that I can share the Bad News that we have all broken God's Law, and the Good News of the "fine being paid".

God bless...

OA At the Well

Good morning folks. May I have your attention; I'd like to speak to you for a few moments. Bearing in mind that at last count almost 2500 American soldiers, our own men and women have given their lives in Iraq to protect our freedom of speech, what I have to say may offend some of you. That isn't my intention, but this message is so important I’m willing to risk your objection.

Imaging this scenario; you are driving across the desert and your car breaks down. You’re stranded in the middle of the desert; Death Valley, California. The temperature is a blistering 118 degrees. You have one sip of water left in your canteen. You’re so thirsty, you’re beginning to hallucinate and see mirages of water on the horizon. Water is essential for the proper functioning of body and mind. The adverse effects of even mild dehydration, as little as 5 to 10% are insidious and extremely dangerous in a survival situation. You could survive weeks without food, but only days without water.

Now, come back to reality. You are here to fill your drinking water bottles. Water is vital to life. We all want to take care of ourselves, and live a long and healthy life, but the truth is, we all have to die someday. Its true, ten out of ten people die. It’s the ultimate statistic. The Bible says we all have an appointment with death, and after that comes the judgment. So after we die, we will stand before God and give an account for everything we’ve done during this lifetime. The Bible says, “Everything is laid open and bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have to do.” Not only does He know what you’ve done, but every word you’ve said, even every though that has crossed your mind.

If you would, take the time to examine yourself in light of the Ten Commandments, and see how you’ll do on Judgment Day. Would you consider yourself to be a good person? The Bible says that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror of the Ten Commandments, and with a tender conscience, see where we’ll stand on that day. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not lie.” Have you ever told a lie, a fib, a half truth or ever been intentionally deceitful to anyone? That would make you a liar. The eighth commandment is “You shall not steal.” Have you ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? If I took a dollar or a hundred dollars, I’d still be a thief. The third commandment is “You shall not use the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Have you ever said God or used the name Jesus Christ to punctuate a sentence? If you have that’s called blasphemy and it is a very serious offense in God’s eyes. You’ve taken then name of God, who is holy, and made that name worthless. And the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. By definition, adultery is when you cheat on your husband or wife, but Jesus said if you even so much as look at another person to lust after them sexually, that you have committed adultery already with that person in your heart.

So if you will listen to your conscience and you’ve admitted to breaking these four of the Ten Commandments, then by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. When you stand before God on Judgment Day, you will be guilty. Remember, God sees your secret sins, everything you thought was hidden, God saw as though it was done in the light of day. And if you are honest with yourself, and you’ve admitted guilt, do you think you would deserve heaven or hell? Don’t be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves will inherit the kingdom of God. The Bible says all liars will have their place in the lake of fire.

You may say, well, I am sorry for my sins, but being sorry won’t help you on Judgment Day. You should be sorry, you have a conscience. Even if you confess your sins to God, and promise never to do those things again, that still doesn’t take away the fact that you did commit those sins. The Bible says that God is a Just Judge, and a just or honest or good judge won’t release a confessed criminal, because the law demands a penalty for the convicted criminal. There is a punishment that fits the crime, and our law-breaking was against an eternal God, so the sentence is an eternal sentence. It’s called hell, and I don’t want that for you and God certainly doesn’t want that for you. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish.

If you were in a courtroom, and you were found guilty of four serious crimes; all the evidence was in, you even admitted your guilt. The judge set your sentence at One Million dollars, but you didn’t have two nickels to rub together. They were about to put you away for a long time, when someone you don’t even know came into the courtroom, and said, “Judge, I’ve sold everything I own, this person is my friend, I love him or her, I’ll pay the fine for them.” How would you feel toward that person who paid your fine for you? You’d be extremely grateful wouldn’t you? Well, 2000 years ago, God Himself entered the courtroom of heaven and paid the fine for your sins. God became a man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, made of a woman. Jesus is the only one who has ever lived a perfect, sinless life. He never once violated any of God’s laws. But they crucified him. They nailed him to a cross where He bled and died a horrible death. He didn’t deserve to be killed. Even Pilate, who sentenced Him to death, said Jesus was guilty of no crime. After Jesus died, they took his body down off the cross and buried Him in a tomb. They rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the tomb, but three days later Jesus rose from the dead, and came back to life, and defeated death.

This is where forgiveness is found, and where God’s mercy is displayed, because Jesus died on the cross to pay our fine. We did the crime, and Jesus paid our fine. You can choose to accept that payment on your behalf. To do so requires you to respond by taking two steps. First, the Bible says, unless you repent, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. Repent is just Bible talk for change your mind. It is the idea of making a 180 degree turn away from your sins, and turn to God for mercy. Don’t just confess your sins, confess and forsake them. The Bible says, “Godly sorry works repentance to salvation.” Step two is to trust in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins. Don’t just believe in Jesus; the Bible says even the demons believe and tremble. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you. Don’t trust in your own goodness, remember the Ten Commandments. You’re not a good person; you’re like the rest of us. The Bible says that “only God is good.” The Bible also says, “All of our righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s sight.” So simply repent and trust in Jesus Christ.

Let me leave you with this story. If medical science was able to develop and perfect the capability to perform eye transplants; and if the laws were changed so that you could sell your eyes; would you sell your eyes for even a million dollars? What if you could get a billion dollars for your eyes? I doubt that any sane person would sell their eyes, even for all the money in the world. You say, “With all that money I could see the world.” Ah, ah, no you couldn’t, you’d be blind. You wouldn’t sell your eyes because they are precious to you; how much more precious is your soul that looks out through those eyes. The Bible puts it this way, “If your eye causes you to sin, it would be better for you to pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to enter into eternal life missing an eye, than for the your whole body to be cast into hell.”

This topic is so important. Don’t let another day pass by without getting right with God. None of us know the day of our death. We aren’t guaranteed anything more than the air that is in our lungs right now. Please take the time to get alone with God, before you go to bed tonight, and cry out to Him for mercy and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that Jesus gives will never thirst; the water that Jesus gives will be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Back to the AM/PM

Not as many kids had gathered before school, on Friday, 3/31/2006. I handed out a few curved illusion tracts, and began to speak to the kids on evolution, hoping a crowd would gather.
I held up a can of Coke, and said, "millions of years ago, there was an explosion in space. The explosion produced a rock. After a few more million years, a brown, syrupy liquid formed on the rock. Eventually, alumninum formed itself into a can around the liquid. A lid with a tab, fashioned itself on top of the can. Much more time passed, and red and white paint fell onto the can, and lettering which read 'Coke'.

I said, you would have to say, we have entered the "Intellectual Free Zone", by me telling you that story.

Now, let me show you a marvel of evolution. The Bananana. I held up a banana, and said, look at this, a banana has a slip proof outer wrapper. The banana is shaped just perfectly to fit in the human hand, see the number of facets (or sides) of the banana. There's a handy tab to open the wrapper. The wrapper gives an outward indicator of the inward contents. Green - not ready, Yellow - just right, Black - too late. The wrapper is perforated for easy opening. The wrapper is even biodegradable. Once you open the banana, the contents are sized just right for the human mouth, and pointed toward the face for ease of entry. Finally, the contents are sweet and appealing for a delicious eating experience.

Do you think the banana happened by chance?

---

Then I OAed, and finally I passed out some of the "101 Funniest One Liners", tracts.

I got to share the Gospel and the love of God with a couple of young ladies. I spoke with one gal, who I hope I connected with. She said that she really didn't have a loving mom and dad who cared for her. I told her about our Heavenly Father and what He did to save her.

God bless...

An Adventure in Meandering

The LORD was on me to go back to Snohomish High school and open air preach to the kids, as they stand outside the front of the school, before school. Two weeks earlier, I had handed out ~200 tracts, behind the school, where there is a student parking lot.

I felt the LORD was giving me a message of encouragement, as I drove to the schoool, I passed by the Snohomish Airport. There were campaign signs hung on the fence around the airport, for a candidate of a local of office. The signs read "Hope is on the way". The last name of the candidate was Hope, but I was on the way to give hope to the kids of Snohomish High.

As I got to the high school, I was overcome by a wave of fear. I began trying to rationalize going home, but I drove around the school and then down by MacDonalds, and the LORD seemed to calm my fears. I parked in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant, that was a block away from the high school. As I walked toward the school, I caught up with a girl who was on her way to school. I asked her if she went to Snohomish High, and she said yes. I handed her a Million Dollar Bill and she asked what is this? I said, it is a Million Dollar bill, don't spend it all in one place. She was still puzzled, and I told her it is a Gospel tract, the message is written around the outside edge of the back of the bill. She accepted it, and I bid her a good day at school, and sped up my pace toward the school.

As I rounded the corner, I saw quite a few kids, standing in front of the school, and many of them were either very near or even standing on the sidewalk. So I meandered along the sidewalk and handed tracts to the kids, explaining what the bills were, to each of the groups. I didn't stop to talk to any of the kids on the first pass, but when I got past the set school buildings that constituted the classrooms, and there were no more kids to hand tracts, to, I turned around. But a female student, came by and I gave her a tract, and asked her if she had a Christian background. She said yes. I asked her what she thought was going to happen to her when she died. She said she didn't know, so I went through the commandments, and when she admitted her guilt, I asked her if she thought she would deserve heaven or hell. She said hell, so I shared the Gospel with her.

I had an encounter with a young Mormon, and went through the Law, and when he admitted guilt, and accepted that he deserved hell, I shared the grace of the Gospel with him. I told him, that it wasn't my goal for him to go back to the Mormon church, but for him to repent, and put his trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone to go to heaven.

I met a couple of skaters, with rings through their lips, and had a very similar encounter to the prior two.

Then, as I started to meander back towards the school, I intersected with a young man wearing an earing, and an interesting black cap. I handed him a Million Dollar bill, and explained why I was there, and he seemed very interested in what I had to say, so I walked along with him toward school. He even stopped, before turning off the sidewalk and heading into school, to let me finish sharing the Gospel with him. I said thanks for listening to me, and he said thanks back to me.

I had a couple of other encounters, one with a group of about four girls and a guy and another group of a two of girls and a guy. Each of these groups allowed me to share the full story of law and then grace. The last group was a couple of Christian gals, and I hopefully clarified our responsibility before God, and His grace to save us, even though we don't deserve it. Also, I hopefully encouraged them to share the message with their friends.

I pray that all these kids will hear and understand the message of salvation.

God bless...

AM/PM OpenAir 2

Blessings and joy came to me on Thursday morning, around 7:15am, back at the AM/PM outside Cascade High School. I prayed, and prayed that the LORD would help me to return to the high school students, that hang out and smoke at the AM/PM before school.

I showed up at around 7:00am, and rehearsed my message, but when I finally began to speak, much of what I had prepared, came out in a different order, and I couldn't recall some other things, but the theme of this message was Righteousness. Before I started to speak to the students, I handed out Ten Commandments pennies, and told the kids, these are "fire retardant" Gospel tracts.

When I got started preaching, the kids were very interactive and asked me questions ranging from "how did you know we were here in the morning?", to "Why would God create marijuana, if it didn't have some good use?"

I am hopeful and praying that the LORD will reach the hearts of these high school students.

>>> here is the text of the message <<<
Good morning. My name is Keith R. You're probably wondering why I'm here talking to you. You may be saying to yourself, "I wish that crazy guy would go away." I know how this looks, believe me I do. I have two sons in high school, and one in junior high. I'm a software engineer at Philips Medical Systems in Bothell. So I could be at home or at work, but the reason I'm here is because I care about you guys. I'm not asking you to join a church, and I don't want your money. All I ask is that you judge me by my words and my motivation, and just take a few moments and listen to what I have to say.

What I've done is examined my own life and my mortality, and I realized I'm going to die some day. We all have to die. Ten our of ten people die. What do you think happens when you die? Do you just cease to exist, and your body rots in the dirt and becomes worm bait. Or, do you believe in heaven and hell? If you believe in heaven, how do you think someone gets there? The Bible does say that it is appointed for man once to die, and then comes the judgement. So we all have an appointment with death. Then we stand before God who will judge us. The Bible also says, that God is going to judge the world in Righteousness. Are you righteous? Would you consider yourself to be a good person. You know the dictionary defines "good" as moral perfection. Are you morally perfect? Let's look at ourselves in the mirror of the Ten Commandments and see our condition.

The second commandment is "You shall not make for yourself an idol, you shouldn't bow down or worship anything other than the LORD." Have you ever made a god for yourself; one to suit your own agenda? Maybe you believe in a god who is only love; one that would never punish someone for breaking the law. Then you've made an idol for yourself. Last week, someone asked if marijuana was a sin. If you believe in a god that says marijuana is okay, then you've made an idol for yourself. You're worshipping a false god. The true and living God does not condone recreational drug abuse, so unless you're a cancer patient on chemotherapy, or have severe glaucoma, there's no good reason for you to be using marijuana.

The third commandment is "You shall not use the name of the LORD in vain." Have you ever taken the name of God, Jesus Christ, and used in in place of a four letter filth word, to express disgust? If you have, that's called blasphemy, and it is a very serious crime in God's eyes. This is very disrespectful, how would you feel if I used your mom or dad's name in this way. You wouldn't appreciate it.

The fifth commandment is "Honor your father and mother." Have you always been respectful and obedient to your parents or guardians? Who hasn't, we've all fallen short in this area.
So, if you've admitted to breaking these laws, then you're an idolatrous, blasphemer, and you're disobedient to your parents. You have to face God on Judgement Day. Would you be innocent or guilty? If you've admitted you're guilty, do you deserve heaven or hell? The Bible says, "the wages of sin is death", and "the soul that sins shall surely die", and "The guilty will by no means go unpunished." The proof that you're guilty is that you're going to die. On the other hand, God say's in the Bible that He isn't willing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

If you desire to have eternal life, and go to heaven when you die, you need righteousness; that is you need to be made right with God. 2000 years ago God did something for you to take away your guilt, and give you righteousness. God became a man in Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin. He never once broke God's law the Ten Commandments. But the perfect, sinless one was crucified. He was nailed to a cross, where He bled and died. He didn't stay dead though. Three days later, He rose from the dead and defeated death. So how do you receive the righteousness that you need to go to heaven? Two words: Repent and Trust. Repent means that you tell God you are sorry for your sins, but it also means that you turn away from your sins, and turn to God for mercy. Then you need to trust in Jesus Christ to save you. Don't just believe in Jesus, put your faith in Him like you'd put your faith in a parachute, if you were on an airplane that was going to crash.

If you do that, you will pass from death to life. God will forgive your sins, and will give you a new nature with godly desires. God will grant you the gift of everlasting life. The Bible says, "blessed are those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness, for they will be satisfied. If you're hungry for righteousness, put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and he will give you the righteousness you need. Thanks for listening. God bless you. Have a great day at school.

God bless...

AM/PM OpenAir Before School

I'm very excited about something the LORD used me for this morning, and I just want to tell someone that might be interested. By way of background, I've only OA'd once, and I had a prepared hardcopy that I read from. So the effectiveness was questionable. Anyway, on Friday of last week, I had to take my wife's car to the dealer for some repairs. As I drove to the car dealer, around 7:00am Friday morning, I noticed a huge group of high school kids gathered at an AM/PM gas station mini-mart, which is located adjacent to their high school (Cascade HS in Everett, WA). I thought and prayed LORD, is this an opportunity? So I staked out the AM/PM yesterday, and witnessed not only the same huge group of kids congregated outside the gas station mini-mart, but there was a policeman arresting a Goth kid. I thought, oh dear LORD, these kids need You. So I planned and prayed to go OA this morning to the kids. I felt that the LORD had given me an assignment to go preach to the high school students, but when I got there this morning about 7:10am, I got so scared, I felt frozen. There were about 50 students outside smoking and talking, etc, I had the hardest time getting out of the car. I grabbed a stack of PocketTestaments, and prayed my hardest that the LORD would help me overcome my fear. I got out and preached to them about the real "Final Exam" that we all have to take some day. They were very interactive and responsive. They came up individually while I was preaching and asked for Bibles and I gave them all away. I was kind of bummed though, because they lit a couple of the Gospels on fire. Then after I finished, I handed out a stack of about 50 Million Dollar bills.

Here is the Text of the Message...
Good morning, My name is K. R. I've been given an assignment to speak to you high school students. So if I could have your attention for a few moments, I'd like to share a brief but important message with you.

Now, I know that you are all high school students at Cascade High. And I know that at the end of the semester, your teachers are going to give you Final Exams. I want to talk to you about a Final Exam that we all have to take. At the end of our lives, we're all going to have to stand before God and He's going to examine our lives. The stakes for this exam are no less than your eternity. So lets see how you'll do on that day. I'll give you a pre-test, and you can grade yourselves.

God is going to judge you based on whether or not you've kept the Ten Commandments. Take the 9th Commandment for example, have you ever told a lie. What would that make you? A liar some girl responded. The 8th Commandment, you shall not steal. Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you? What would that make you? A stealor, the same girl responded. I said , the steelers are in Pittsburg. I heard a few chuckles. I said you'd be a thief. The 7th commandment, you shall not commit addultery, I know probably none of you are married, but adultery is cheating on your wife, but Jesus said "if you've even looked at another person to lust after them, you've committed adultery already with them in your heart. And the 6th Commandment, you shall not murder. I know none of you have committed murder (a couple of guys raised their hands jokingly.) I said but Jesus said if you've even hate someone you're guilty enough to deserve the judgement of hell.

So if you've admitted to breaking these Laws, you'd be a Lying, Thieving, Adulterous, Murderer at heart. Those are only 4 of the 10 Commandments, there are 6 more where those came from. You have to stand before God on Judgement Day, and you'd be guilty. What would you deserve. "Hell", a couple of the guys responded. Yes, and hell is forever.

God doesn't want you to go to hell, and I don't want you to go to hell, so how do you avoid hell? God requires 100% perfection on the Final Exam of life and there are no re-takes of that test.

But you can receive forgiveness for your sins. 2000 years ago, God became a Man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin. He lived a perfectly sinless life. But they crucified Him. They nailed Him to a cross where he bled and died. They buried Him in a tomb, but three days later He rose from the dead and proved He has the power over death.

Jesus didn't die for anything He did wrong. He died to give Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He took our guilt, and shame and punishment upon himself on that cross. He purchased forgiveness for us. Now to receive that forgiveness, you need to do two things: Repent and Trust. Repent is Bible talk for change your mind. You need to change your mind about sin, and turn from your sin and turn to God for forgiveness. Secondly, you need to place your trust in Jesus Christ to save you. Its like this, if you were on a sinking ship, you wouldn't just believe in the life-boat, you'd put your faith into the life-boat and get into it.

So get right with God today. None of us know when we're going to die, so don't wait till its too late. Place your trust in Jesus Christ and repent today; don't wait.

God bless you and thanks for listening to me.

God bless...

From Russia to K-Mart

While we waited for the tires on our van to be rotated, we walked across the street to kill some time in K-Mart. As we browsed around, a young woman walked up to me and asked (with a strong Russian accent) if I would sign up to try to win a $10000 shopping spree in K-Mart. I questioned whether or not I would be placed on phone or mailing lists, she promised not. After I filled out the name and address on the form, I asked her what her name was.

She said her name was Olga. I asked how long she had been here in the states, she said two years. I asked if she liked it, she responded very positively, that she loved it. I asked if she was a believer in Jesus Christ. She said, yes. I asked if she was going to church. She hemmed and hahahed, and said she went to some church that I didn't understand the name. I asked her if she was reading her Bible very much. She said no. Then I asked her if she thought that she was going to go to heaven when she died. She said she didn't know, she wasn't sure. I told her that she could know for sure, and that was why the Bible was written, so that those who believed on the name of the Son of God would know that they had eternal life. I asked her if she knew what God did for her so that she didn't have to go to hell, and she knew that Jesus died for her sins. Then I explained that she needed to put her trust in Jesus Christ, just like a person who was on a sinking ship would put their trust in a life-vest, and "put it on". Then I explained that she needed to repent of her sins, but she didn't understand. I explained that she needed to change her mind about sin, and turn away from sin and turn to God for mercy. She smiled, and I told her thank you for talking with me.

God bless...

Traffic Accidents Are All Too Common

As I have voiced, in previous installments of this blog, I have a great concern for my neighborhood. Last Friday evening, was just another example of disturbing behaviour that impacts my life and even more importantly, my family's peace of mind.

About 11:30pm, I was laying down, half asleep, and I heard a car go by, and then a loud smack, followed by quiet. My wife said, was that an accident. I said, yeah, probably. I got dressed and went outside to see a silver-blue Honda, up in the planter of the front yard of our neighbors who are kitty-corner across from us, and a red Eagle-Talon in the middle of the street.

I could hear a woman screaming and crying. There were a couple of neighbor women trying to console the young woman in the Honda, but she was unconsolable, and she was screaming that her chest was in pain, although the air-bag had not deployed. Apparently the woman had not been wearing her seat-belt and had struck the steering wheel with her chest.

Some young men, associated with the driver of the red Eagle Talon, were unloading a sports bag and a backpack from the car. Apparently, there were some contents in that car that they didn't want the police to see.

While this was going on, the neighbor woman, into whose yard the Honda had encroached was screaming with a drunken slur, "STOP YOUR CRYING, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY TO FIX MY YARD!". This drunken woman's husband also (seemingly drunk) stumbled out to the yard where the Honda had ended-up and muttered some unintelligible words. The drunken family's dog (a beautiful black Lab pup) bounded into the middle of the accident site. When the police arrived, they ordered the woman to control her dog or else they would give her a ticket.

When I got my chance to stick my head into the Honda to try to console the woman, I smelled the strong odor of alcohol. I asked her if I could pray for her and she said no.

By this time the Fire Department had arrived, and were beginning to evaluate those involved in the accident, so I went back home.

I am praying that the LORD will use this accident to get the attention of everyone involved, including my neighbors.

God bless...

Outside Quest Stadium -- The Seahawks Playoff Game

Dressing warmly was just not enough for me on Saturday, January 14th, 2006. I really should have worn gloves though. But, the fans were nice and gracious. I handed out about one hundred "Ticket To Heaven" tracts. The only people that really talked to me were a couple of drunks, but thats okay.

I will have to say, I was very impressed with dArrell's Open Air message, and the setup was just ideal. He used his new P.A. system, and setup against a large brick building, right across from a gate where hundreds of people were lined up to enter the stadium. He seemed well received and as usual, there were a few hecklers, but the Gospel message came across loud and clear.

Praise the LORD for a man to clearly and intelligently present not only the Gospel, but the Law, to drive men to the Saviour.

God bless...