Thanksgiving to God

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I pray that everyone will remember what this day is all about...no, not the food. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pies are all wonderful, and we are most definately grateful, but we need to be grateful to God for our lives, and what we have. I was reminded about one aspect of Thanksgiving that most (including me) don't think about. A friend of mine gave a speech on the Pilgrims in Thanksgiving...and she compared us to the Pilgrims. Sure, we don't have wooden shoes or black pointy hats, but we are pilgrims all the same. We are called to be Pilgrims for the Lord. (Or, in other words, be a witness to the fallen in this world.) As my friend put it: When you think of the Pilgrims this Thanksgiving, don't forget to look in the mirror.

On a more "thanksgiving-ey" note, I am grateful and thankful for my family, their health, the friends God has blessed me with, the schooling oppurtunity I have down here in Southern California, the freedom we have in this country to worship the Lord and pray to Him, and most of all, my salvation. I am a worthless sinner, but God has saved me. That is the best gift anyone can recieve.

God bless, and have a wonderful thanksgiving! (And give thanks!)

In Christ,

Brooklin Nash

Halloween Night

A group from my church went out to Topanga Mall tuesday night. (Halloween.) The main purpose was to get out as much literature and video's as we could, most of them pertaining directly to Halloween issues. For some reason, I'm not a fan of handing out tracts. Don't get me wrong, tracts are wondeful tools if you're in a hurry, if they're in a hurry, or if you just want to leave them places. (For example, I was at Six Flags recently, and left tracts on tables, garbage cans, bathrooms, counters, etc.) But I don't like going up to someone, handing them a tract, and leaving it at that. If you have the chance, you should talk to the person. It makes it so much more personal, and sticks with them. The first conversation I had that night, with Jeremy, was probably the must fruitfull. To tell the truth, I was feeling pretty downcast that night. I didn't really feel like being there at all. My church was having a Harvest Party, and I wanted to be there instead. Man, the enemy will get in any way he can, huh? Finally I just stopped to pray for strength and direction, and it got better from there. The first place I stopped was at a vendor's booth in the middle of the mall. I started with some trivia questions, rewarding right answers with M&M's. Works great. (Especially on Halloween. =) After winning to candies, Jeremy asked what this was all about. That opened a wide door. I asked him if he wanted to take another test, a different one called the "Good Person". He accepted. I took him through the law, and he was very open. He said that he has come to realize that there is a God, and that whoever He is, that God loves him. He had been looking into it for the last couple months. What a start to a conversation! He had a lot of questions about the deity of Christ, hell, heaven, and creation. This made me realize how much more I need to study! There's so much I don't know. But I think it was good for me. One problem he had with the Word is the idea of a hell. How do we know there is one? I showed him. About then he got off work, so I left him with a tract and my email address. Be praying for him. He's really close.

After that I met up with my group, and we decided to head over to Northridge Mall, thinking there would be more of a crowd. When we got there, the mall was already closed, but there was a haunted house, climbing wall, etc. set up outside, so we stuck out there. I teamed up with Dorothy, a young woman from my church. She said she was feeling the same as I was at the beginning of the night; not really feeling led. We decided to press on anyway. The first guys we talked to thought it was one big joke, and didn't really care about wether they were going to hell or heaven. (All he cared about was the candy that I gave him for the trivia questions.) He said he was an agnostic, and wouldn't accept anything we said, saying it was "unknowable". No matter what we said, he wouldn't put up with it. Be praying for him as well.

Right after that, we saw a group of teens, apparently waiting for a ride. Now, teen groups are my favorite to talk to for a couple reasons:
1) I'm a teen, and can relate better.
2) Because it's a group, it's not as intense as one to one.
3 ) Because of those two reasons, it's a more open atmosphere.
Again, I started with the candy/trivia. You get tired, bored teens, and give them candy, and you've got a good start. Then I gave them the Good Person Test. Most of them said that they were not good people. There was one that held out though. I focused on him. As I took them through the commandments, they became more and more serious. They seemed convinced enough, so I shared the good news. They were very receptive. Their ride came after that, so I left them all with tracts. Dorothy and I made our way back to the haunted house area, where the rest of our group had been talking. The crowd had left for the most part, but there were a few stragglers left. We're called to witness to all people, so we talked to the stragglers. Overall, it was a great night, and God definately had His hand in it. That night showed me how much I need to learn about God's Word, and encouraged me to do so. What I learned is that if you don't know the answer to something, say so, and tell them that you'll find out. Usually they'll accept that. God bless, and stay in the Word!