Blood on My Hands

Food makes everything better, does it not? I found these babies while at Kroger and just knew I had to make them for a neighbor who just lost a loved one. Look at how yummy they look:

A brownie and cookie all in one pan?! Yes please!

First Layer--Brownie Mix:
Second Layer--Cookie Dollops:
Out of the oven....pure heaven:
Be proud of me. I only had one finger-lick of the brownie batter and I only took the teeny-tiniest square to sample. You know, to make sure they were fine to serve to others.

Joking aside, I felt widely convicted at Brother Steve's sermon on Sunday. His topic was "The Seriousness of Soul-Winning". You can listen to it here. In fact, I highly encourage you to listen to it, because when I say that it changed my life, I'm not kidding. That sermon completely changed my life.

Without telling you the whole sermon, Brother Steve read Ezekiel 3:1-19 and focused on the last three verses where God tells Ezekiel to be a watchman for Him. He appointed Ezekiel to warn others on behalf of Jesus and tell others of the gospel. What an honor. Ezekiel was to announce for God about His love and grace and to warn others of the consequences of not following Him. But, He also says in verse 18 that if Ezekiel does not warn the wicked of their evil ways that they will die in their iniquity, then their blood is on Ezekiel's hands. Basically, if Ezekiel does not share Christ with the lost, the wicked and those who are without Christ, when they die and suffer for eternity in hell, then their blood is on Ezekiel's hands.

Same goes for all of us. It is our God-given job to not only tell but to warn others of Christ and the consequences that come if you do not follow Him. Brother Steve made sure to make this point: "It's my job to warn, not win, souls to Christ." I like that he said that because God doesn't tell us to go and win souls to Christ right and left and that every person we share the gospel with better accept Jesus as their personal Lord and savior or else we are failures as disciples of Christ. No. Not true.

It is our job to tell others of His love. It's our job to share the gospel. It's our job to warn others of the frightening outcome of living a life of sin, which is eternity in hell. It's not our job to make sure they ask Christ into their heart and to get baptized asap! But there is heaven to gain and hell to shun. It's our job to make that evident to those around us.

The reason I'm talking about both Brother Steve's sermon and the brownie/cookie mixture is because one of our neighbors died a couple weeks ago and we didn't even know it. It's shameful. We had noticed that he hadn't been playing basketball in a while (and he is always outside playing ball with his son!) And then we noticed on Saturday evening, the family was hanging up black ribbons and bows and American flags in their yard. Jamie thought that surely something happened to the Cop who lived there. He was right. I stopped by the house and asked some of the people hanging out in the yard and sure enough, Officer Anthony Rahming passed away on August 4th of a massive heart attack. You can read more here. After the sermon on Sunday, my heart sank.

What if he didn't know the Lord?

I've talked to him and his family countless times and I didn't even know his name!!

What if he's suffering in a lake of fire all because I didn't share the gospel with him?

That man's blood is on my hands.

Yesterday evening, I made it a goal to make my way over there and bring that family something sweet to eat. The funeral was yesterday morning, so I was hoping to bring enough goodies to feed some of the family that was in town. I bought a sympathy card, but really struggled with it. I was weeping in Kroger while reading the "Sorry for your loss" cards because there was one card that said, "Welcome Home." I didn't know if Anthony was home. I didn't know if he was a Christian and was hugging Jesus in Heaven. I didn't know if he was home. In his heavenly home. So I found one that just said that I was praying for them.

I brought it by yesterday and dropped it off on the front door since no one was home. Vanessa, Anthony's wife, stopped by just a couple hours ago. We finally met. She thanked me for the brownies and we just wept together. Talked, cried, hugged, prayed. I felt like we were old friends. She and her beloved had been married for over 22 years and have two grown boys, Michael and Cornelius. Officer Anthony was only 48 years old, healthy as a horse and never got sick. He had been sick all day on the 3rd and went home feeling crummy that night. He progressively got worse as his sweet wife rubbed his back, hoping to make him feel better. The ambulance came and got him and Vanessa said when she saw the lights go on and the van speed up, she knew that was it. She lost him.

I asked her when she was over here if he was a believer. Her response, "Yes ma'am and praise God for that! I'm so glad he's healthy and walking down the streets of heaven!" When she said that, I just broke down sobbing. I was so thankful that he was a man of God because if he wasn't, then his blood would have been on my hands. What a wake up call that was for me. How dare I take opportunities to share the gospel for granted. I'll never do that again.

I'm hoping I can use this experience to spur me on to be more open to sharing the gospel with strangers. I need to be more open in meeting my neighbors, forming relationships and telling others of Christ's love.

Can you do the same? Who's blood is on your hands? Who do you need to go talk to and warn about the consequences of sin? How can you be a soul-winner?

I hope this comes as an encouragement to you to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's encourage each other to be soul-winners. I love you all and pray that opportunities arise all around you to announce for God about his unfailing love for us ;) What an honor.