Tonight I went out with Bristol Nights. Myself and Jamie are now leading a team together and it was our first night out as team leaders. It was scary because we've had no training and 2 days ago one of the girls from Bristol Nights asked some other people from Bristol Nights to send me the Leaders check list. However, this check list never arrived. So we just totally blagged it and the blag worked. We successfully led a team.
Everytime I go out with Bristol Nights I'm always astounded by what great opportunities God gives us to share His love.
Tonight one of the opportunities was just being there from 7pm through to 9.30pm it was heavy raining and part of me was considering cancelling the night completely but I'd decided we should meet everyone and then make the decision wehn down there as to whether it's too wet or not. At 9pm I prayed. I prayed that the rain would stop. Now most people would call this a coincidence and even I might call this a coincidence but all I know is BBC weather predicted heavy rain until 3am. From the moment we met the bus at 10.30pm until 2pm when we packed up there was not one spot of rain. So some might call it a coincidence and I might call it a coincidence but I also might call it answered prayer.
The thing that struck me tonight is that everyone I spoke to was foreign....
Guy 1: Was an Egyptian. He was Christian from an orthodox upbringing but he told me as long as Christians believe Jesus is the son of God and have relationship with him we're all the same. He was interesting he was on his fourth degree. He'd come to the UK to study dentistry, he used to be a vet but after working with animals and animal owners he'd decided it was time for a career change. He was interested in the project and liked the idea of getting involved however, he was going to find it hard with the amount of study he has to do.
I found it somewhat amusing that the first guy I talk to happens to be Christian.
Girl 1: Was from Sweden. She was blonde. That's neither here nor there apart from I stereotype all Swedish people to be blonde. We didn't talk to much about God, I saw her facial expression change when I told her we're sharing Jesus' love and I knew that for her it wasn't the right time to go down that road. So instead while she slowly drank her hot chocolate I listened to her explain how she celebrates Christmas in Sweden, how they celebrate on the 24th December and how all the houses have triangular lights in the window so every street looks so beautiful. And how advent is a massive thing in Sweden not only the calendars but they celebrate advent on tv and radio too. By the end of the conversation her hardness had disappeared but it was time for her to go home. I pray she comes across the love bus again because I think next time she does she'll be a little more open to receiving Jesus' love.
Guy 2: Was from Hungary. He had a different type of belief it was half budist half something else that he had randomly made up (I can't spell budist and it's too late to look it up and when I clicked on the red underline the only option it gave me was nudist and he wasn't one of those). He told me he prays but he doesn't pray to God but he prays to a something. He told me he was lonely and he had needs and some of his needs was need for a girl. I was glad at this point that Jamie was also part of this conversation. I explained to Him that in the bible God gives us a promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. I told him that your something you pray to might just be God. So your something will never leave you or forsake you so when you're lonely pray it might help. He seemed to accept that.
Guy 3: Was from South Africa although it was hard to tell because he'd lived her for 10 years and picked up a rather posh accent with just a slight hint of a South African accent. I recognised this guy and I realised that I might have spoken to him last time I was out with Bristol Nights. We got to talking and he told he was a vague Christian. I asked him to explain what a vague Christian was and he basically explained that he believes in God and believes God created the world but he sees visible signs of evolution and thinks that Christianity and evolution don't go together. He said he thinks the bible is a guideline to live but was written by man so doesn't take all of it as completely true. He struggles to believe that Jesus is the son of God because he finds it hard to believe a virgin could give birth but he does think Jesus was God's son in the same way that he's God's son and that he thinks God favoured Jesus and that Jesus meant a lot to God. It kind of felt like he wanted to believe but he struggled believing. By the end of the conversation we had established that he praised God at home and prayed to God not regularly but occasionally. However, after he's prayed he always wishes he prayed more. He said that in South Africa he grew up in a strict church and if you didn't believe what they believed you were in the wrong and because of his opinions and views he keeps his faith in God very private but He's never stopped believing. He then said I've even managed to make some of my friends that believed in Science to doubt Science and consider the Christian faith a bit. I ended up telling him that he thinks he's different to other Christians which is why he doesn't want to attend a church but I think from what he's told me he's very similar to other Christians. I challenged him to try and up the amount of prayer he does and even encouraged him to not be put of church because his views might differ from others.
Guy 3 was the last person of the night I spoke to and to be honest we spoke for a very long time. I could go on and on about the conversation but what I know is I really felt that God wanted this guy closer to Him and I pray that He draws closer. He's in a relationship with God and yes he struggles with Christian beliefs but if I'm to be totally honest I've been a Christian now for 16 years and I still struggle with some Christian beliefs. I pray God draws Him close.
So, tonight was a really good night for conversations with foreign people. I think a few of the other guys had some great conversations as well. It's as if we were meant to be out tonight it might not have been particularly busy but Jesus was in quite a few conversations.
I heart Bristol Nights and I heart Jesus.
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