HEADING
An Adventure on the Beach
By Jackie van der Velde
CBN.com - Not knowing
what to expect, we headed to the beach with nervous anticipation. With
coolers and guitars in hand, we walked along the boardwalk to determine
what would be the best spot for our endeavor. The grassy patch next to the
17th street Dairy Queen was a beautiful site! It had everything we needed;
people strolling up and down the boardwalk, lots of room to sit and hang
out, and bathrooms close by. It was perfect! We were ready to have
home group on the beach!
Our group had always met every Friday night for worship, prayer, and mutual
encouragement in the Lord at someone’s home. Lately though, we had
been stirred to move our group out of the home and into open areas to testify
of His mercy and grace by sharing what God has done in our lives. A
prompting so strong and unified, we had to obey.
“Obedience is better than sacrifice”, says the Lord. And
so it is!
As we stepped out in obedience, he took care of the rest. Within minutes
of singing worship songs, we had several people stop by.
It’s totally awesome to watch God in action, to watch Him call His
wayward children back home. One by one they came. Some heard a familiar
song and wanted to join in; others just wanted to see what we were all about.
Whatever the reason, all were welcome to hang out.
One man that came up was named Roy. He came and listened to the music for
a while, talked about his life and how he felt he had messed it all up.
We assured him of God’s love for him, and how much he longs
to have fellowship with him. Within minutes he had rededicated his
life back to the Lord. Through tears of repentance, he surrendered
it all to Jesus. It was absolutely awesome!
Later on in the evening came Diane, David, and Lori. They stopped
and watched from a distance. We offered them sodas and invited them
to join us. David was a bit uneasy, but Lori and Diane jumped right
in.
As we sang and talked about the love of God, it was obvious by the look
in Lori’s eyes that she wanted to know more. God was calling her to
Himself. She was hungry, yearning to know the true love and acceptance that
only comes from giving your life to Jesus. She told us she had her
own religion, but she liked hanging in our circle because of the positive
energy she felt.
What she felt was God’s presence and in His presence is fullness of
joy.
Her cousin David, on the other hand, seemed a little uncomfortable as he
was motioning to Lori that he wanted to walk on. Maybe he felt we
would try to push something on him. Maybe he just didn’t want to hear
about God.
Their aunt, Diane, seemed to be comfortable as she was told us about different
churches she had visited. They stayed quite a while longer, before they
continued down the beach. It was evident that something had happened in
Lori’s heart. I felt that they would be back, maybe that night,
maybe next week.
But even if they don’t come back, God is working in their lives. He
made an impact on their hearts. I know God will continue to reveal
Himself to Lori, Diane, David, Roy, and every other person who walked by
on that first Friday night at the beach. What an exciting night!
We saw God touch people’s lives! It wasn’t anything we
prepared, no speeches, no tracts, no "in your face" evangelism. All
we did was praise the Lord and people responded. It was totally God! Father
God is drawing his children -- and we have the privilege to be there and
welcome them back home.
Now as we venture out to the beach, there is a whole new excitement and
anticipation. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do.
It’s so much fun being out with people, talking to them, loving
them. Sharing with them that God knows exactly where we are, and it
doesn’t matter where we’ve been or how long we’ve been
there, God loves us!
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
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