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Yesterday evening, during our block party off of Kipling, we had an interesting and unexpected attender show up. While the mission team from Beaumont, TX was singing some of their songs that they had taught the kids during the week, a card-board sign appeared over the privacy fence directly in front of the choir.

You could see a visible change on the kids faces when they read the sign that was being waved back and forth. A woman that lived at that house had taken a black marker and written in large letters, “GOD IS IMAGINARY.”

As I stood to the side in full view of both the choir and the sign, I wondered how the kids were going to respond to someone who did not believe as they did and was willing to be as expressive about their beliefs as the choir was about Jesus. Needless to say, they were in SHOCK that someone didn’t believe in God. They had never faced anything so bold.

As soon as one song finished and a drama team was getting ready, one of the bold young men walked straight to the fence, where the lady had very proudly hung her sign, and began to take it down in disgust, but the lady very quickly told him to stop and leave it alone.

As I began to walk up there to diffuse and monitor the interaction, I heard her say to the young man, “God is no different than the Easter Bunny!” He was trying his best to engage her in a discussion about beliefs. He was ready and willing to argue his points of belief and defend God. She was going to have nothing to do with a discussion because her extreme irritation with the music was all that was on her mind. So, I calmly asked the young man to back down and I apologized for volume of the music and we would be finished soon.

After the performance was over, I called over the young man named Jacob. He was visibly stirred up and I wanted to encourage him for his passion and zeal. As he approached, he was followed by a group of students that were ignited by his bravery to confront the lady and attempt to correct her beliefs.

So while I had that teaching moment, I reminded them of Peter and his zeal for Christ. He even chopped an ear off in his zeal. I am sure that Jesus was impressed by Peter’s passion, but Jesus needed to redirect that zeal. Immediately after the ear fell to the ground, Jesus told Peter to chill out. He needed to remind Peter that they were not there for ears, rather, they were there for hearts.

I wanted to encourage this young mans passion, but I wanted to remind him that we were called to be “fishers of men” not winners of arguments. We want to engage this woman’s heart, not to drive a wedge even further between her and God by tearing her sign down.

We were able to go back to the fence later and talk with the lady and listen to her and ask her to consider God one more time. One of the Group leaders from Beaumont was able to have a discussion with her and asked her to take a 30 day challenge by reading the Gospel of John and ask God to reveal himself to her.

May God grant us the wisdom to recognize the difference between ears and hearts. We need to be more interested in winning hearts than arguments. May we all be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves when we encounter those that need to experience the love of God. Paul said to the church in Philippi, “I pray that your love may abound more and more in depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best…”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is “best.”

In His Grip,

Joel