I ate lots – and lots – of cheese.
That was followed by a large hunk of lamb. It makes for an interesting digestive combo, but the effects are delayed and I was ready to face the consequences. Besides, the atmosphere called for it.
It was Wednesday night. The men and I from the MTC Mission Team were at the RHAC annual Men’s Night.
It was hosted at a very generous church family’s house. The couple that own it catered for the entire group of 70 men: 23kg of prime meat off the spit; trays and trays of garlic & rosemary potatoes; entire garbage bags of salad and coleslaw; well-spaced eskies full of beer and soft drink, not to mention the bottles of red on each large wooden table. The property backs onto bushland. The stars were out that night, and the sound of rumbling masculine conversation was thick in the air.
Dinner was followed by Dan Ford in 1st year’s testimony. Jesus found him out in his late teens, when he was chasing a dream as a professional guitarist in a heavy metal band. One of the older men remarked to me later, “It’s good to know some of you minister-types are normal guys like the rest of us.”
After Dan’s testimony Lionel Windsor gave the evangelistic talk from Eph 2:1-10. It was a cracker. Lionel somehow managed to shrink his enormous lecturer’s brain to regular human size; his talk was down to earth, easy to understand and heaps relatable. I’ve got no doubt that for some of those guys, it was the first time they’d heard the gospel and that it hit them hard.
Speaking of the gospel hitting people, earlier that day, I’d returned to visit Jake* (see previous post).
After a quick knock, he opened the door to find me standing there with two Holman Versions of the Bible.
A short ‘hey-hows-it-goin’, then he invited me inside.
We continued our chit chat until we made our way to his kitchen table. I asked him if he was keen to open the Bible and he said he was. So I began with the carefully crafted plan I’d prepared earlier.
“Usually one of the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John are good ones to start with,” I suggested.
He shook his head. “Naaa… I was kinda thinking maybe that Revelation book,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Are – are you sure? It’s a pretty difficult book to begin with if you’re not familiar with the Bible. The gospels are really where it’s at…” I said eagerly.
“Na man. I’m really keen on Revelation,” he repeated.
So Revelation it was!
After a 30min bible study of Rev 1, I asked Jake* what he thought the main point of the chapter was. “Well… seems like it’s all about Jesus. How he’s really powerful and stuff, and so people don’t need to be afraid of death or hell if they’re on his team,” he summarised.
“Yeah. That’s pretty much it,” I replied. “What do you think the implication is for you?”
“I guess… I should probably work out where I stand with Jesus,” he said.
There’s still lots to talk about with Jake* and he didn’t become a Christian that day. Nonetheless, the week so far has been a reminder that God is at work through his people; whether it be Men’s Nights, doorknocking, the Women’s Night that happened on Tuesday, the chats students have been having with their billets, the SRE assemblies we ran or the family fair that will happen tomorrow.
Jesus is showing his power, come meat or Revelation.
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