Sowing and Reaping
Today, I experienced being both a sower and a reaper. I went to the Eternity play again today to see Nick baptized. Satan tried to keep from going but God set it in my heart to be there. I get there and I meet up with Rahoul, who promptly tells me he can no longer flirt with me because he has a girlfriend. I'm quite grateful for such and his company is not awkward. Before the play actually starts, the man on stage tells everyone to turn and introduce yourself to the people around you. The woman behind me shakes hands with me with a grip and for a length of time not normally accepted in casual society. I thought she was going to take it off.
The play goes through and at the end is prayer and an alter call. I have a thing about alter calls. There are good ones and bad ones. The good ones emphasize the need for salvation and include a changed life, making Jesus not just savior but Lord. The bad ones are just the ones where they tell people that you say a pray and go on merry way. Thankfully, this alter call was a good one. I felt... compelled to keep my eyes open and look around. I was curious. I see a woman about my grandmother's age behind me raise her hand saying that she wanted to be saved but when the speaker asked the people with their hands raised to come foreward, she lowered her hand. Without giving much though to what I was doing, I leaned over and said that if she wanted to go down there, I would go with her so she wouldn't be alone. We both make our ways out of the aisle. The one who had vice gripped my hand was walking with her. She gave me a "it's o.k. I got it look" but the woman who wanted to be saved grabbed my hand and the three of us walked down. The speaker leads in prayer and everyone repeats after him. The woman, whose name she later told me was Fran, began crying while praying. After the prayer, the speaker and alter workers heard everyone that came foreward to a separate chapel (FBC at the Mall is huge! they have their own coffee shop. Reasonably priced too...). I asked Fran if she wanted me to come with her and she responded with a yes. In there, counselors met with groups of people and had them fill out cards with their information for the sake of both contact and counting. While our counselors was with someone else, we had a chance to talk. Apparently, she's a member of a Baptist church in Winter Haven and the vice-grip woman brought her to the performance tonight. I gave Fran my phone number if she ever needed anything. We left the chapel and in the hallway she introduced me to her family. This whole time she was either holding my hand or I had my arm around her. She told me that she had wanted to go down to the alter during the alter calls at her church but she had never felt pushed to do so. She had asked God to push her to do so and she said that if it weren't for me, she wouldn't have gone down there tonight.
Guys... I was used to help change a life tonight. This is one of the most amazing things that has happened to me. I'm like "woah! God used me!" It was so great. I can't even describe it.
Now, about the opening remarks. Tonight was Nick's baptism, which I ended up missing. I helped sow the seed and other people reaped it. With Fran, someone else sowed the seed and I was one of the people to help reap it.
Man... this is so amazing.
The play goes through and at the end is prayer and an alter call. I have a thing about alter calls. There are good ones and bad ones. The good ones emphasize the need for salvation and include a changed life, making Jesus not just savior but Lord. The bad ones are just the ones where they tell people that you say a pray and go on merry way. Thankfully, this alter call was a good one. I felt... compelled to keep my eyes open and look around. I was curious. I see a woman about my grandmother's age behind me raise her hand saying that she wanted to be saved but when the speaker asked the people with their hands raised to come foreward, she lowered her hand. Without giving much though to what I was doing, I leaned over and said that if she wanted to go down there, I would go with her so she wouldn't be alone. We both make our ways out of the aisle. The one who had vice gripped my hand was walking with her. She gave me a "it's o.k. I got it look" but the woman who wanted to be saved grabbed my hand and the three of us walked down. The speaker leads in prayer and everyone repeats after him. The woman, whose name she later told me was Fran, began crying while praying. After the prayer, the speaker and alter workers heard everyone that came foreward to a separate chapel (FBC at the Mall is huge! they have their own coffee shop. Reasonably priced too...). I asked Fran if she wanted me to come with her and she responded with a yes. In there, counselors met with groups of people and had them fill out cards with their information for the sake of both contact and counting. While our counselors was with someone else, we had a chance to talk. Apparently, she's a member of a Baptist church in Winter Haven and the vice-grip woman brought her to the performance tonight. I gave Fran my phone number if she ever needed anything. We left the chapel and in the hallway she introduced me to her family. This whole time she was either holding my hand or I had my arm around her. She told me that she had wanted to go down to the alter during the alter calls at her church but she had never felt pushed to do so. She had asked God to push her to do so and she said that if it weren't for me, she wouldn't have gone down there tonight.
Guys... I was used to help change a life tonight. This is one of the most amazing things that has happened to me. I'm like "woah! God used me!" It was so great. I can't even describe it.
Now, about the opening remarks. Tonight was Nick's baptism, which I ended up missing. I helped sow the seed and other people reaped it. With Fran, someone else sowed the seed and I was one of the people to help reap it.
Man... this is so amazing.