Not everything on the street is dead serious. Things get strange every now and then. Bro. Dave Rowley (from ND) was standing with me on the street when a guy who was handing out flyers next to us got incensed. After getting right in our face yelling that we were “DOING IT ALL WRONG,” he proceeded to mock us (he thought) and took to jumping up and down and screaming “You’re going to Hell, you’re going to Hell.” Then he took some of our tracts and said, “Now let me show you how to do it.” At which point he approached a man and said very quietly and gently as he walked along with the guy “Can I give you one of these?” The guy turned and gave him a good cussing. He looked a little chagrined but tried again on several others. After suffering a total rebuff from each one, he sheepishly came back to us, shrugged his shoulders and said “MAYBE YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT AFTER ALL.”

A young white woman listened for a few minutes and then went on her way not seeming very serious. Just a little later she came back crying and very upset because her sister had hit her. They seemed to be in their early twenties and all partying. She just seemed so broken up, and as I was beginning to talk with her again about her need of Jesus, a black man came up and took her by the arm and said roughly, “Come on, we’ve got to go now.” I can’t explain it, but she looked at me with such pitiful eyes as if she suddenly realized what kind of situation she was in and had just been given a glimpse of something better. It was as if she never really knew there could be anything better for her and now she wanted to be different so bad. But she was led away, while looking back at me. These people break your heart, but all I can do is turn her over to God and trust him to woo her through another means or person. Proverbs 14:13 says “Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.” You see the truth of this over and over as you deal with people.

A young man with a long pony tail said he was saved and in boxing training. His father graduated from a local Bible college here. He professed to be saved but acknowledged that he was not living for Jesus. But he appreciated me and informed me that he was going to defend me from any of the hecklers who had been mocking. He faded away and I forgot about him. The next thing I knew I saw these huge lips about two inches from my lips, as I was preaching. The guy was so close I could not focus, all I could see were these lips seeking mine. I quickly maneuvered the banner pole between us as the owner of the lips hung on to it. As I let it go it hit the ground and he stepped on it. Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief over avoiding that kiss, out of the crowd stepped the boxer and took off in hot pursuit of the kisser. The last thing I saw was them rounding the corner a block down. Several minutes later the boxer returned alone and never particularly caring for sodomites I was careful not to inquire as to how it ended. In the meantime there were several men around me exclaiming that while they did not like what I was saying, he had no right to do that and they were really mad!