You cannot evangelize others without evangelizing yourself in the process. The Holy Spirit creates the opportunity for you to minister to or help someone. To do that He has already inspired you to be the one to do it and enables you to provide what the other person needs. He uplifts everyone involved. What a blessing!!
NEW - "The Vision” Story
Today “THE VISION” story was added under the NEW LIFE tab on the website.
Here is the background to the story:
I was to give an hour long talk on my book, On My Way, at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center in Norwood, Ohio. About 80 people came to the talk. At the end I mentioned that I would be back in March for the spring library book discussion. In the closing remarks I also said I had some books for sale, if anyone was interested. The very first person in line was Rose, who was so excited to tell me her story. Her story was very interesting, but I noticed many people were still in the line to buy books. I asked if she could come to the library discussion in March and she said she would. On the way out I stopped at the book store to give them three books and drop another off at the library.
On the third Saturday in March, I arrived at 12:45 for the 1-3 o’clock book discussion. Gina, the librarian, had told me it would a different and smaller group. At 1:00 the group was definitely smaller, 0 people.
Gina said it was not unusual for people to trickle in. Skeptical, I went to the book store to see if anyone had purchased my books. While looking for the books I saw a couple in the store and asked if they might want to come to my talk. No, they had other plans. I went to the clerk to see if she had an idea in which aisle my books might be. I told her they had colorful circles with a red bull’s eye on the front cover. Then I saw all three books were right below the counter. It was then that I noticed a middle aged man behind me. I turned and asked if he would like to come to my talk on the book. He asked when it was, and I told him in just a few minutes in the library. He asked how long the talk was. About 2 hours with discussion time I said. He said he would come but couldn’t stay more than ½ hour. I told him he could leave whenever he wanted.
When I went back to the library, three maintenance men were replacing fluorescent light bulbs. Naturally I invited them to the talk. The maintenance manager said they had a lot to do as the two volunteers with him only come in on Saturday. However, they would take the ladders down and come for a few minutes.
Three others had trickled in while I was in the bookstore. One was a nun who had been at my previous talk and lived at the center. Another was an author, who had written a book about his own conversion and the third was Rose. The gentleman from the bookstore came and Gina the librarian along with the maintenance men, we now had eight. Christ said, “When two or more are gathered in my name, there I am also,” and He was. All eight stayed for the entire talk and discussion.
My Morning Song Today
Woke up thinking what Christ is saying to us today and then the song Lean on Me came to mind by Bill Withers:
Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won't let show
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me (call me)
If you need a friend (call me) call me uh huh(call me) if you need a friend (call me)
If you ever need a friend (call me)