A "Light" in Raleigh

Last night, Tony & I went to Raleigh Downtown Live (a free summer concert hosted by Bud Light). This was our first time at this event with Tony’s sandwich board, and I must say it was definately a ray of light in a very dark place. We stationed ourselves near one of the entrances; I stood by the light pole and offered gospel tracts to people as they walked by. Tony just stood there with his sandwich board on… no open air preaching. It is amazing how many people will actually read the words out loud, “You must turn from your sins and place your trust in Jesus alone”. And there were a few that even wanted to get their picture taken with us. We decided that we will not turn down a picture… because when they are flipping through their pictures at a later time, it will be a great reminder of the gospel and a witness to whomever they show the picture to. Then some of them even walk around to see what the back says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. Most of them are saying it in a mocking manner, and some make “smart” comments afterwards and hastily walk off; but then there are those that want to talk.

One guy had walked up to Tony, took hold of the sandwich board and read it out loud to himself a couple times. “I believe in Jesus”, he said. He had obviously been drinking. His sober wife walked over to apologize. She took hold of her husband and told him to leave us alone. He still stood there. Tony began to talk with him and encouraged him to read the book of 1 John sometime soon. The Bible says that we are to examine ourselves to make sure that we’re in the faith(2 Corinthians 13:5). It was pretty much left at that. His wife was so grateful and thanked us for being out there. We gave her a gospel tract written by J.C. Ryle, titled “Are You Born Again?”.

A young guy could not give account for his moral standards with his atheistic worldview. If he truly believes that everything happened by random chance, then he has no reason to be nice to others. As a Christian, we believe that God created everything and he gave every person a conscience – that tells them right from wrong. When asked his name, he responded “Oh, funny you ask. I don’t go by Christian anymore… my name is Chris.”

We also spoke with a Muslim man, his Christian wife that went to Bible college, and a friend of theirs. Most of the conversation was with the husband, but the wife and friend stood there nearly the whole time listening. His name was Muhammad, he speaks fluent Arabic and pretty good English. He admitted that as a Muslim, no one can be assured that they will end up in Heaven when they die. Our friend, Fareid had given us some Arabic gospel tracts a while ago. At first I thought that I didn’t have any with me, but when I began to look through my purse I found one. (Thank you Jesus!)