...Zing, zing zing went my heart strings...
While in Portland St. Patty's night, Dana and I were waiting for the trolley/street car to arrive to take us to dinner. Walking from our hotel to the trolley stop, we heard loud yelling. Yell, Yell, Yell. When we got there, we noticed one man standing on the other side of the street outside of a coffee shop, with his hands in his pockets, yelling. Though I could not understand everything he was saying, I believe he was yelling the gospel. The other person yelling was standing in the middle of the street on the median, waiting for his trolley (his trolley was going the opposite direction our was going). I could understand everything this guy in the middle was yelling, much to my chagrin. He was holding a large cup of Joe and was yelling to get the guy quiet. "Coffee Joe" (not his real name, but applies to him) was saying all sorts of words that I will not repeat and hope will be erased from my memory very soon! And, honestly, I could not blame the Coffee boy. He not only acted mad, he acted very, very hurt. The man yelling the Gospel, who I am now calling "The Clanging Gong", would not be quiet. He kept yelling and yelling. Coffee Joe became irate even more, flung his coffee cup across the street at the Clanging Gong, hitting, not the gong, but a car beside him and spattering coffee all over the place. Shocked is too UN-descriptive a word to describe my feelings at the moment. Two men yelling, neither one endearing themselves to those around them, both of them making a statement, both of the statements very negative. Coffee Joe went off with his girlfriend around the corner, without his coffee, leaned over against his knees, his back shaking. Laughter? In Tears? I don't know. But I am telling you, he needed someone to get to him fast.
And we didn't.
The Clanging Gong kept going, much to our dismay. Pretty soon, someone on our side of the street got irritated, too. He began to yell, though I did not hear any expletives coming from his mouth. He began to yell about "The Dark Side" and "The Force" and essentially making fun of the guy but in a very disturbing way. So, The Gong is hearing Star Wars Guy and in the middle of his evangelizing, yells, "Shut your MOUTH!!!! Just SHUT UP!" then continues to yell about the Prince of Peace. Doesn't sound very peaceful, does it? By this time I was shaking and crying...the man who was trying to spread the gospel was really causing others to mock God and delve more deeply into the world of sin rather than the world of freedom and safety and salvation. It was the saddest thing I ever saw.
Then, amidst the clanging of the gong, "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley!" and we were soon carried away to downtown Portland.
Looking back to this situation over the past few days----remembering...knowing the pull that my feet felt, the anguish of my heart, the words forming in my head---I realized that I failed. Who knows but that we were there for "such a time" as that!!!! And we did not rise to the urgings in our hearts to minister to not just one man (the clanging gong) but to those around us that he was hurting so badly by his approach/his method of sharing Jesus. This situation reminds me so much of Lucy and Edmond in the book, "Prince Caspian." In the story, Lucy saw Aslan across the way. No one else saw him or understood her urging to follow him, but Edmond believed what Lucy saw. However, because others around them did not feel the stirrings to follow, Lucy and Edmond stayed with the others. This led to weary travels, and almost death. Following Aslan's path, though seemingly invisible, led to peace and victory. We, like the two youngest siblings in the story, saw/felt the path to go on, but remained where we were. I am glad to say that Aslan gave the children another opportunity to step out in faith, and I know that God is so much better than the make believe Aslan in C.S. Lewis's story...and that He will give us another opportunity to follow His promptings. I know God has forgiven us our silence in this situation...now if only I can forgive myself. :)
I know that some of you may be wondering why the Clanging Gong was given that name. Why was his speech making, in my opinion, so disturbing and just as wrong as my silence or the cursing of Coffee Joe or the rantings of Mr. Star Wars?
Remember when going into one of the towns, Jesus passed a man possessed by demons? The demons began to shout out who Jesus was and immediately Jesus hushed the demons. I never really understood that before (though I know there is a lot more to be understood about it than what I will say next), but I do now, at least in part. The profession by the demons of who Jesus is probably would not have been a message listened to or received by the people Jesus was going to minister to. It is quite possible His reasoning is bcs of the way the demons would have presented that message! Yelling in a booming voice, in an obnoxious way, of who Jesus is. Much different are the people who were healed of their sicknesses, forgiven of their sins and shouted out in praise to God. Notice, they didn't shout out their sermons, but shouted out their praise. And then they shared the glorious, wonderful freshness of Jesus with love and excitement and a changed heart evident in their lives immediately. Now, I am not saying Mr. Gong was demon possessed, but I do imagine that Jesus would have hushed him up and shown Clanging Gong a better way of sharing Christ's love and salvation.
See, Clanging Gong became just that. A loud noise to get away from, to ignore. A noise disturbing the peace around so that Jesus' love and administering could not be seen or heard. His heart may have been right, his passion and love for God and Jesus strong, but his methods were damaging and wrong. No one was really listening to the words this man was yelling, they just heard him yell. Every once in a while they heard Jesus' name, then they turned up their ipods/MP3 players, began talking on their cell phones, or went down a couple blocks to the next station (our next station was more than a few blocks away). What happens when we hear a horn blaring? We look around to see where it is and then MOVE AWAY from it. If it continues to blare, (how annoying!) we begin to tune it out, or we get mad and throw some coffee at the person honking the horn to get them to stop! Honestly, I was a little sorry that Coffee Joe missed his target.
...but don't tell anyone!
On the flip side of this, the next day as we were loading the plane, we had an opportunity to help a family much like our own...two adults and 47 kids (ha, ha, ha). Once sitting back in our seats, and sometime later, a woman who we had been speaking to a little before the flight, came by and stopped, saying, "I have a feeling that you know Jesus! You are Christians, aren't you?"
Imagine that. We did not have to yell and shout our message of hope. We just shared it by letting God use us to help others. I am glad we did not mess up that one, too!
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