Rocking the Slopes!

I spent yesterday riding Purgatory with my friend Craig. We haven't ridden together in 12 years! God is so good to us! He even gave us free tickets (thanks Vickie and Paul) and a great powder day. It was a great day of riding. We decided before we even hit the slopes that we would try to share Christ with every person we rode the lift with (remember the Chair Lift Evangelism post and the snowboarding for Jesus post). Anyway, we definitely shared with every person we rode the lift with. Not one person turned us down. Everyone is hungry for Jesus! Four stories stick out as dramatic examples of where people are at. Here they are:

1. "D" is a Colorado native who loves the outdoors. As we shared with him he was very open. He believed God was little bit of everything - nature, people, etc. As we shared the gospel with him Craig told his story. Craig said, "When you get to the real issues isn't it more about not wanting to give up the steering wheel? That's how it was for me. I had a love affair with the steering wheel of my life and I wasn't gonna let anyone touch that sucker, especially not Jesus." "D" replied, "I think that is probably true for all of us." I was shocked at how honest he was. God please bring David to yourself.

2. "M" came here for college and never wanted to leave (hey, that's what happened to me). She grew up with faith being "pushed down her throat." We used the tactics approach with her and asked her a ton of questions about her current belief that the goal of life is to follow your heart and be happy. We asked her if she would be surprised to find out the Bible was true and God was God. She said, "not at all." Once again, this precious young woman was completely open to talking about Christ.

3. "N" is a middle school student we shared with. God has been working on his heart but he didn't yet have a relationship with Him. We challenged him about the choices and pressures he will soon face and asked him what his foundation is. He said, "none." We got to share the only true hope with him before the lift ended.

4. Chuck jumped on the lift and right off the bat I asked, "what's your name?" He said, "Chuck." Working through the sound barriers I said, "I had a mentor named Chuck." He asked, "That's cool, what did he do." I replied, "he was a pastor." And before I could ask the next transition question (what's been your experience with Christianity?) he boldly replied, "that's great because I'm a Christian too!" We got to encourage him for the rest of the trip.

Those weren't all our conversations but a few that stick out in my mind. It was great to see, once again, that everyone is interested in Jesus and each of these people were at different places in their journeys towards Him. I hope these stories encourage you as you share your faith today! Check out this old snowboarding video from years ago if you want. Have a GREAT day!

Snowboarding for Jesus!!! This is an amazing story!

Many of you know I used to be a sponsored snowboarder (thats me in the picture, you can click the picture for a bigger view). That entailed getting a lot of free boards. It's been a good 13 years since I bought snowboarding equipment. Last year at our December Men's Retreat (to see the recap of this years December retreat click here), God had been putting on my heart to give a whole snowboarding setup to a boy, Glen, who came to the retreat for the first time. I didn't want to at first because it was a lot of gear and I didn't have the money to replace it. Giving him that gear meant I'd have to ride older gear I hadn't ridden in a while. I finally caved to the Holy Spirit's prompting and gave this young man a board, bindings, boots, helmet and goggles (actually, the same board, boots, bindings and helmet from the picture above). He was thrilled. He had wanted a board so badly he had been carrying a block of snowboard wax around expectantly. Talk about faith!!! Anyway, I haven't spoken with him for a while but got a text from him the day before yesterday. I asked him if he was still going strong for Jesus. He told me yes, "I skate and snowboard sharing the Word of God with others." He went on to say that he has led 3 atheist friends to Christ and has also led 4 strangers to Christ doing this skate and snowboard evangelism! Wow!!! I thought this was a great example of yielding to God's leading especially when it costs something (remember David's heart).

Sometimes evangelism isn't cheap; it may cost you time, energy, possessions, reputation or money but it is so worth it. Knowing what I know now about how this young man would use that board for God's glory I would have gladly given him all my gear. Praise God for Glen! Pray God keeps him strong and continues using Him to share the Good News! Have a blast applying the Christmas evangelism ideas before Christmas gets here. Merry Christmas!!!