A gun or mud in the eye!!
Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many people.'
Good afternoon world.
Today was a very hot one. I worked on my trawler this morning. A good friend, Capt. Kenny helped me.
Kenny has had a lot of problems with the engine in his trawler. He is in the process of rebuilding it. He already had the engine back together once but had to take it back apart because he realized he had left some small shims out.
Before I got down to the dock this morning, Kenny had already hurt his leg. As he went to get on the boat, and the tide was low, his foot slipped and he fell and hurt the front part of his leg. He hit it right on the bone and it was bruised and bleeding just a little. It hurt him and he complained just a little. He never really complains very much at all.
Kenny is a special person. He is honest, hard working, faithful to his wife and friends and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
I have known Kenny for many years. His daddy and my wife's daddy were brothers. Kenny's daddy passed away several years ago.
Kenny's story is special, yet so much like others I have known, mine included.
Kenny was a truck driver. He has been all over the country driving trucks and hauling stuff for different people and different companies.
He has always been interested in shrimp boats, he even worked on one many years ago. Last year he worked for me and I really enjoyed having him as part of my crew.
SOMETHING HAPPENED:
Kenny's life changed several years ago. Something happen to him that changed his life.
Before I tell you about it let me back up and tell you a little about the past. I have always thought a lot of Kenny.
Today was a very hot one. I worked on my trawler this morning. A good friend, Capt. Kenny helped me.
Kenny has had a lot of problems with the engine in his trawler. He is in the process of rebuilding it. He already had the engine back together once but had to take it back apart because he realized he had left some small shims out.
Before I got down to the dock this morning, Kenny had already hurt his leg. As he went to get on the boat, and the tide was low, his foot slipped and he fell and hurt the front part of his leg. He hit it right on the bone and it was bruised and bleeding just a little. It hurt him and he complained just a little. He never really complains very much at all.
Kenny is a special person. He is honest, hard working, faithful to his wife and friends and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
I have known Kenny for many years. His daddy and my wife's daddy were brothers. Kenny's daddy passed away several years ago.
Kenny's story is special, yet so much like others I have known, mine included.
Kenny was a truck driver. He has been all over the country driving trucks and hauling stuff for different people and different companies.
He has always been interested in shrimp boats, he even worked on one many years ago. Last year he worked for me and I really enjoyed having him as part of my crew.
SOMETHING HAPPENED:
Kenny's life changed several years ago. Something happen to him that changed his life.
Before I tell you about it let me back up and tell you a little about the past. I have always thought a lot of Kenny.
A few years after I got my life straightened out and God opened up the door for me to teach a men's Sunday school class, I invited Kenny to come.
The reason I invited him was because I was in a position to see just how much knowing Jesus was doing for other men and women that had started coming to Sunday school and church. I knew what knowing Christ was doing for me. My whole life was changing right before my very eyes. It was and is great. So because God had revealed to me the promise of His Son, I felt compelled to bring others into what I was experiencing.
The reason I invited him was because I was in a position to see just how much knowing Jesus was doing for other men and women that had started coming to Sunday school and church. I knew what knowing Christ was doing for me. My whole life was changing right before my very eyes. It was and is great. So because God had revealed to me the promise of His Son, I felt compelled to bring others into what I was experiencing.
Now back to Kenny. I knew him, but I didn’t really know a lot about his personal life. I knew this, that if knowing Christ could change me and help me grow, it could help almost anybody. So I invited Kenny to come to the Sunday school class, and I invited him and invited and then I asked him again. I was not pressuring him but just trying to let him know how much it was doing for me and many more people just like me. Then I asked him again, but no show! A long time went by and I asked him again. No good!
One day I was at the hospital sitting with somebody, I can’t remember who right now. As I was sitting there someone asked me if I had heard what had happened to Kenny. I was shocked at the story.
HE SAW THE LIGHT!
Kenny was making a delivery at Wal-Mart late at night. A man pulled up on a bicycle with a ski mask on and in pulled out a pistol and demanded all the money Kenny had. Kenny told him he did not have any money and the man proceeded to beat Kenny’s face in with the pistol. Kenny fell down or tripped and as he did, felt something warm running down his face into his eyes, he was blinded and couldn’t defend himself. He told me that he thought this was it, he thought his life was over. He said during the time the blood was running down his face, he remembered about me inviting him to church.
Thinking his life was over all of a sudden he saw the light or a light. Now how does God work? His ways are not like our ways. He works in ways we cannot see. The light God sent this night was in the form of headlights from a passing car. A man and his wife were passing by and their headlights brightened up what was happening to Kenny. Kenny really saw the light. The bandit made a clean get away and has not been seen since.
THE ROOM UPSTAIRS
Kenny was up stairs in the hospital, room 509. I hurried up there as fast as I could. When I opened up the door, what a site! His face was severely swollen, red, black and blue with many stitches. He looked horrible. When my eyes meet with what little of his one eye that could still see, he began to cry. In my heart I felt sincere compassion for him. I don’t know why, but I said to him, “Kenny, I have been trying to get you to come.” He said, “I know it, I have just been to busy.”
Now why did I say what I did? Did I think that if Kenny had been coming to church, that this thing would not have happened? Did I think that bad things don’t happen to God’s children? Absolutely not! Coming to church or Sunday school doesn’t make us exempt from bad things happening to us. The reason I said what I said was that at that moment I believe the Holy Spirit was directing my thoughts and words. Before I came out of room 509, Kenny was a brand new creature in Jesus Christ. (Praise God) I said what I said because if he had meet up with Dr. Death the night of the pistol whipping, according to the Word of God, his salvation was not secure.
He made a commitment to Jesus, and told me as soon as he got out of the hospital he would be in church. I kept going to see him daily. After several surgeries, he able to go home.
Weeks went by and Kenny didn’t show up in church. I called him just to ask how he was doing and he said he was doing ok. One day I stopped by his house, not to see why he had not come to church but just to see how he was doing. As soon as our eyes met, he told me he would be in church Sunday. He was convicted.
Come Sunday, I was almost the first one at the church. Kenny was pulling in right in front of me. He came in my Sunday school class and said it made him feel really good. He stayed for the sermon. At alter call he did not get out of his seat.
The preacher was Dr. Robert Cuttino, a really good man. The next Sunday when I arrived at church, Kenny was parked waiting on me. He had a gleam in his eye that I had never seen in him before.
Dr. Cuttino preached about Joseph and the coat of many colors. Genesis 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done….the saving of many people.”
When the preacher gave the invitation, Kenny was up and down that isle like a bolt of light. His life has changed for the better. He has patience where he had none before. He doesn’t every use foul language; he is humble in a manly way. He has love, peace, joy, and many more things that people are searching for in their own lives.
One day I was at the hospital sitting with somebody, I can’t remember who right now. As I was sitting there someone asked me if I had heard what had happened to Kenny. I was shocked at the story.
HE SAW THE LIGHT!
Kenny was making a delivery at Wal-Mart late at night. A man pulled up on a bicycle with a ski mask on and in pulled out a pistol and demanded all the money Kenny had. Kenny told him he did not have any money and the man proceeded to beat Kenny’s face in with the pistol. Kenny fell down or tripped and as he did, felt something warm running down his face into his eyes, he was blinded and couldn’t defend himself. He told me that he thought this was it, he thought his life was over. He said during the time the blood was running down his face, he remembered about me inviting him to church.
Thinking his life was over all of a sudden he saw the light or a light. Now how does God work? His ways are not like our ways. He works in ways we cannot see. The light God sent this night was in the form of headlights from a passing car. A man and his wife were passing by and their headlights brightened up what was happening to Kenny. Kenny really saw the light. The bandit made a clean get away and has not been seen since.
THE ROOM UPSTAIRS
Kenny was up stairs in the hospital, room 509. I hurried up there as fast as I could. When I opened up the door, what a site! His face was severely swollen, red, black and blue with many stitches. He looked horrible. When my eyes meet with what little of his one eye that could still see, he began to cry. In my heart I felt sincere compassion for him. I don’t know why, but I said to him, “Kenny, I have been trying to get you to come.” He said, “I know it, I have just been to busy.”
Now why did I say what I did? Did I think that if Kenny had been coming to church, that this thing would not have happened? Did I think that bad things don’t happen to God’s children? Absolutely not! Coming to church or Sunday school doesn’t make us exempt from bad things happening to us. The reason I said what I said was that at that moment I believe the Holy Spirit was directing my thoughts and words. Before I came out of room 509, Kenny was a brand new creature in Jesus Christ. (Praise God) I said what I said because if he had meet up with Dr. Death the night of the pistol whipping, according to the Word of God, his salvation was not secure.
He made a commitment to Jesus, and told me as soon as he got out of the hospital he would be in church. I kept going to see him daily. After several surgeries, he able to go home.
Weeks went by and Kenny didn’t show up in church. I called him just to ask how he was doing and he said he was doing ok. One day I stopped by his house, not to see why he had not come to church but just to see how he was doing. As soon as our eyes met, he told me he would be in church Sunday. He was convicted.
Come Sunday, I was almost the first one at the church. Kenny was pulling in right in front of me. He came in my Sunday school class and said it made him feel really good. He stayed for the sermon. At alter call he did not get out of his seat.
The preacher was Dr. Robert Cuttino, a really good man. The next Sunday when I arrived at church, Kenny was parked waiting on me. He had a gleam in his eye that I had never seen in him before.
Dr. Cuttino preached about Joseph and the coat of many colors. Genesis 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done….the saving of many people.”
When the preacher gave the invitation, Kenny was up and down that isle like a bolt of light. His life has changed for the better. He has patience where he had none before. He doesn’t every use foul language; he is humble in a manly way. He has love, peace, joy, and many more things that people are searching for in their own lives.
One thing I didn’t know about him was that each night on the way home before his new birth, he would stop off at the store and get a twelve pack of beer and drink it all before he went to bed. Now he does not drink at all. He even stopped chewing that old nasty Levi Garrett.
His life is brand new. He has a new heart. It is a good sight to see. All this took place about five years ago and he has missed maybe one or two days from church. He tells people about Jesus and how much his conversion has helped his life. This is truly a blessing for me. I give all praise and honor to God.
Kenny cannot drive trucks anymore because he vision is very poor in his damaged eye.
Now what does all this mean to you? God works in different ways in different people. He has a mission for you. It is to tell people about Him.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell anyone who’s interested how you came to know Jesus. It’s all about a personal encounter. Once you know Christ you introduce Him to others through your own story. This notion that so many Christians and non-Christians have that our mission is to dazzle folks with how much better we are is not only ineffective, it is untrue.
This is precisely the kind of wrong thinking that keeps people from telling their story. Who am I to tell someone about Jesus? The absurdity in this kind of thinking is the fact that no one, especially Christians, will ever have it all together in this life. The fact that we aren’t good enough should be the whole point of our message. We tell people about Jesus because we know, better than anyone, how much we need Him. When people throw our own inconsistencies up in front of our faces, that is just another opportunity to tell our own story of how Christ has forgiven us on the cross and how much we need His salvation every day. So instead of being a threat to our witness, our faults and shortcomings are the very things upon which our witness hangs. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus.
When I think of the real meaning of our statement as Christians to those who haven’t come to know Christ yet, I always think of the blind man that Jesus healed by covering his eyes with mud and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:1-34). When the religious leaders got wind of it, they started to question the man at length, wanting to know who healed him, how it happened, where the man who healed him was now, and even asking his parents to verify whether their son was in fact born blind. When they came back to the man and pressed him with questions a second time, accusing Jesus of being a sinner for doing work on the Sabbath, the man replied, I don’t know whether he is a sinner. But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see. (John 9:25 NLT)!
That’s the fundamental nature of the message: I was blind, and now I can see; I was lost and now I am found; I was guilty and now I’m forgiven; I was alone and now I have a friend.
His life is brand new. He has a new heart. It is a good sight to see. All this took place about five years ago and he has missed maybe one or two days from church. He tells people about Jesus and how much his conversion has helped his life. This is truly a blessing for me. I give all praise and honor to God.
Kenny cannot drive trucks anymore because he vision is very poor in his damaged eye.
Now what does all this mean to you? God works in different ways in different people. He has a mission for you. It is to tell people about Him.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell anyone who’s interested how you came to know Jesus. It’s all about a personal encounter. Once you know Christ you introduce Him to others through your own story. This notion that so many Christians and non-Christians have that our mission is to dazzle folks with how much better we are is not only ineffective, it is untrue.
This is precisely the kind of wrong thinking that keeps people from telling their story. Who am I to tell someone about Jesus? The absurdity in this kind of thinking is the fact that no one, especially Christians, will ever have it all together in this life. The fact that we aren’t good enough should be the whole point of our message. We tell people about Jesus because we know, better than anyone, how much we need Him. When people throw our own inconsistencies up in front of our faces, that is just another opportunity to tell our own story of how Christ has forgiven us on the cross and how much we need His salvation every day. So instead of being a threat to our witness, our faults and shortcomings are the very things upon which our witness hangs. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus.
When I think of the real meaning of our statement as Christians to those who haven’t come to know Christ yet, I always think of the blind man that Jesus healed by covering his eyes with mud and telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:1-34). When the religious leaders got wind of it, they started to question the man at length, wanting to know who healed him, how it happened, where the man who healed him was now, and even asking his parents to verify whether their son was in fact born blind. When they came back to the man and pressed him with questions a second time, accusing Jesus of being a sinner for doing work on the Sabbath, the man replied, I don’t know whether he is a sinner. But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see. (John 9:25 NLT)!
That’s the fundamental nature of the message: I was blind, and now I can see; I was lost and now I am found; I was guilty and now I’m forgiven; I was alone and now I have a friend.
It doesn’t take a perfect life to spread that message. Just someone who has had an eye-opening encounter with the living Christ. Regardless of intellect, position, status or wealth, the message for everyone will come down to this: I was blind, and now I can see.
Have you seen the light? Regardless whether it was blood or mud that caused you to see Jesus, please tell someone about Him.
A gun or mud in the eye!!
Grace and Peace.
posted by Fisherman For Christ at 6/20/2006 04:26:00 PM
4 Comments:
Hi, Bobby. My name is Diane and I live in Arkansas. I followed Praying For A Prodigal here to your site and I've been reading ever since you started blogging. I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your writing. God has given you a gift and I appreciate your using it here on this blog to glorify Him.
I am in the middle of switching computers, but when I get the new one hooked up and working I'd like to link to your blog, if you're agreeable to that.
I've been saved since I was 9 years old and I'm 42 years old, happily married for 20 years to the same man, and I have a 18 year old daughter who starts college in August. I have been the songleader in my church for 25 years, and I am a Southern Baptist. I don't allow foul language on my blog, or anything off-color or vulgar. It's strictly Christian-friendly content.
I just wanted you to know a little about me, and that almost all my readers are Christians.
Thanks again for letting God use you this way. :-)
Friends in Christ,
Diane
Wow Daddy, this is good stuff!
Love you!
PS. your jacket is at MaMa's)
Hey Daddy! I love to read your blog. God has given you an awesome talent and I'm glad that I can read some of it everyday! I love you!
Hey Mr. Graves, I wanted you to know that since the girls told me about your blog, I have been reading daily. Your words are so strong and have such great meaning that I look up to them for inspiration. Lori, has been telling me about your writings, but I had never had the pleasure to read them until now. You have a wonderful gift and what another great way to share your words.
Happy Blogging.......:-)
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