The Lord Prepares Us
It was such a joy to get to visit the city of Portland! It is a place I have been interested in for years, just with the eclectic culture, consciousness towards the environment, different backgrounds of a lot of people in the city, and more. When asked to go on the trip in August to share the gospel of Jesus in Portland, I was excited and of course somewhat nervous. While it is a pretty friendly area, not everyone would be interested in being stopped in the street for a deep spiritual conversation. I am thankful for the Lord, as He was already preparing my heart beforehand through His Word. God had used multiple circumstances of hearing His word and my own personal time reading throughout the summer to be saturated with the concept I was anticipating: a messenger of the Lord having something to say that wouldn’t be well received. In June, the student summer camp I served at had the message of “The Righteous Remnant”, a man of God being set apart and holy amidst a perverse world. Someone doing what God was asking them to do, regardless of what people thought or what was happening around them. Then the next month, I served on a student mission trip visiting a church in Mexico. During one of the services, there was a challenging message God used to speak to me about not being afraid to ask Him for more fruit in the labor, and to not fear giants where the Lord is leading. While there, we also had some evenings of street evangelizing, with the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ from there for the language barrier ;) With that, God proved how easy it is to be faithful, and that people are willing to talk about Jesus! On top of it all, over the summer I was reading in the major prophets of the Bible. God used Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel’s callings and action to give me clear comfort and direction in regards to the trip and other things in my life. All of these things the Lord worked together to give me peace of mind and confidence to speak, regardless of reception. ALL OF THAT WAS JUST THE PREPARATION - God is so sweet to work things out for a while, just to prove His faithfulness and clear guidance.
While on the trip, God continued to give grace and direction. Our team worked together well, had peace, and was in unity as we hit the streets to talk to people. We focused on mostly transient areas to hit as many people that may have had the flexibility to talk: the riverfront area, PSU’s campus, and the streets of the Pearl District. Generally, it was a mixed bag of conversations with people. Our goal was to keep on the gospel and not argue or push anyone. Some weren’t interested, some had heard before and already come to their own conclusions on things, and some had never heard or were open to listening! Every time a person was open to talking felt like being a middle school boy finally getting to talk to the girl he liked – feeling overjoyed and trying not to be nervous! We just stuck to the Word of God and shared what we knew of Jesus, the true hope we are all looking for. I personally got to lead two sweet girls to Christ on our third day of evangelizing. It was a tender moment to just share the truth of God’s Word with them. Their reception was totally an answer to many prayers, and two souls that are secure with Jesus for eternity! I am so excited to see what God continues to do in Portland, OR :)
