Impact: From A Handful of Dirt And A Question.

Today was a special day for me. I received a card and a letter in the mail from my cousin who is at a Christian substance and addiction rehab facility on the east coast. So far he has been there 8 months, and this is his second time out there. This was my first correspondence with him since he left to go live there, even though I write him between 1 and 2 weeks apart.

I'm not going to show or even write down everything that is in the letter, but he talks about being totally wrecked for Christ and how he had to lose everything to gain everything in Him. He is giving up his life to serve the Lord and not only that, but they have even put him on staff at this facility. At the end of his letter, he writes,

"You were the first to introduce me to my Christian faith. Although it has been a long, bumpy road, you have a huge role in this victory." 

Here is a public video of him sharing his testimony at the place he is staying.

The reason why I wrote about this is because most of us will never know the impact we have in souls we witness to and share our faith with. Most of us will never get a letter, or a thank-you, or a pat on the back. But we don't witness to get these. We do it for God's glory. But it's nice every so often to see some fruit on this side of heaven. The crazy thing to is to not give up hope and trust that the Lord is working, no matter how long it takes.

When I first witnessed to Rich, it was at the log cabins in West Virginia when this picture was taken. I was really young in the faith, newly married, and probably close to maybe 2005. That is like 13 years ago! Rich was borderline agnostic / atheist, who grew up Roman Catholic, but really questioning God's existence. But the story of the first time I witnessed to him was pretty funny. We were hiking along the top of the tallest mountain in West Virginia - Seneca Rocks 2,202 ft above sea level. While we were hiking, he stops at the very top, bends down and scoops up a handful of dirt. He brought it over to me and showed me that in his hands were ocean fossils that scattered all over the top of this mountain. There were so many that all you had to do is scoop up some dirt and you were sure to have some. They were everywhere. So I asked him how they all got here. He said the only logical explanation was that the top of the mountain had to be covered with deep sea water in order for them all to settle the way they did. So I said, "That must mean Noah's Ark is true, huh?" Well, he quickly denied it, but then went on as to what else it could have been. But nothing else made sense. And from that day it really made him think about God, the bible, afterlife, and why Jesus had to die on a cross. I've answered questions through the years, and had some pretty good conversations. But it all started with a handful of dirt and a question.

But here is the one thing I want to stress. "When we do nothing...nothing happens". We won't have an impact on anyone if we don't share our faith. We need to get out there and make disciples. We can't make disciples if we don't share our faith first. The fish aren't going to jump in the boat. We have to take initiative and start the hard conversations, conquer the fear, and get out of our comfort zones. I hope this encourages many of you. To God be the glory.