BOLD Young Lady!

I recently was asked to speak at a Youth Conference here in Belize. So I did.

I was the speaker for Friday night - the lead-off guy. The whole 2 day event started with me. Not to set any pressure on me or anything but they gathered 50 teens in a room and said, "Okay, they're all yours!"

Not only that, but I learned shortly before arriving that I was slated to do a Bible Story Session - not a regular talk or message. So.........................off we went.

(If you are not familiar with Bible Story telling - it is avery interactive and dynamic way to teach the Bible - and fun too!)

50 teens who had no idea who I was or why I was doing this strange sort of presentation.

50 teens who did not even fully know what they should expect for the weekend.

50 teens looking at this aging white guy wondering if they made a good choice for their freetime!

On top of that - I felt strongly that the Lord was leading me to do the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. Remember that one? The Rich man who wasted all his days decided how to spend his money...and Lazarus, the poor man, who was covered with sores and had been dumped on the rich man's doorstep. His life consisted of hoping for scraps from the rich man's table while his only friends --- were the dogs that came and licked his sores! (UGH! That gets me every time!)

The story is really about Hell - imagine that. You go to a Youth Conference and the first thing you hear about is Hell! Yeah - just had to trust that God had something special in mind.

I think He did.

We heard a lot of positive feedback afterwards. They liked the aging white guy and his story. That's nice, but it gets better.

Just today we learned that a young girl who was there was strongly impacted.

She is Catholic, 13 years old and was apparently captured by the story of how this poor man was carried to heaven while the rich man, who had everything while on earth, ended up in Hell and in torment.

Like the part about the rich man begging for help and how he was denied it, just as he had denied help to poor, sore covered Lazarus, who had been waiting right outside his door, day after day.

And that there was a great chasm between heaven and hell and that no one could cross over from heaven to hell - even if they wanted to. And that no one could cross over from hell to heaven either.

The story caught her attention - and compelled her into action. How do we know? Because she told one of the ladies that worked at the Conference that she went home and said to her whole family,

"Listen, everybody, come sit down. let me tell you what I learned about God today!"

Praise God for the simple boldness of a child.

Praise God for obedience.

Praise God that His Word continues to go forward...

.....through aging white guys telling the stories that Jesus told..

.....and through young girls who are passing those stories along to the next generation!

Blessed to be serving in Belize,

~Ray & Becki