by Gary Milford
The following is a true story. This happened to me. You can take it for whatever you think it is worth.
For many weeks the Lord has been pestering me about “climate change” and “global warming”. I believe I have a lot to say on the subject but have been frustrated about how to present it. I’m convinced my efforts would be doomed to failure before I even start. Nobody cares what I think and nobody wants to hear my opinion on this hot button subject. I’m not a scientist. I’m not even all that smart. I’m dyslectic and probably can’t even spell scientist the same way three times in a row. So what’s the point? I have asked God to help me with this if this is really what He wanted me to do. No reply!
Then, last week, something happened. Last Thursday my neighbor Fred called the house and wanted to go for a walk. Fred is 83 and not in the best of health so when we walk, we just go down the street for about a block and then back home. As soon as we started out, Fred said to me, “I want to tell you what happened today.” I said, “OK Fred, tell me.” He said, “I went to bed last night around 11:00 and woke up, wide awake at midnight.” My sister’s husband, up in New Jersey, was on my mind. God was telling me I need to talk to my brother-in-law about his salvation. Fred said he stayed awake till around 3:00 am trying to figure out what he should say. In all the years they had known each other, they had never once talked about their faith. Fred said God finally spoke to him and said, “Fred this is not about you or what you have to say”. “This is about Me and what I have said in My Word”. Fred said from that point on he began to pray and ask God for two things; First, to show him which part of the gospel to relay to his brother-in-law and second, he told God “You have to prepare his heart. I can’t do that.” Fred said after that he went back to sleep and slept good the rest of the night.
The next afternoon, Fred called his brother-in-law. He said the man is in pretty poor health and never answers the phone. But today he picked up the phone and said hello. Fred said hello and said he wanted to talk to him about something. Fred asked if this was a good time or should he call back later. The brother-in-law said he had just gotten off the phone with someone else and had nothing else to do the rest of the day. Then he asked Fred, “What do you want to talk about”?
Fred began to lay out the plan of salvation one step at a time. After a while he asked his brother-in-law, “do you want me to stop or should I go on?” The brother-in-law replied, “Keep going.” Fred kept going in small steps, pausing along the way to inquire if he should continue. Each time he was told to keep going.
When Fred had finished sharing the message of salvation he asked the question. “Well what do you think?” Would you like to pray and ask God to come into your heart?”
The brother-in-law said, yes, I want to do that.” After they prayed Fred said, “Now no one in the world knows what you just did except you and I, so you need to find someone in your town that you know and tell them what just happened to you”. The brother-in-law said, “I’m going to tell my wife right now.”
When I returned home from the walk, I told that story to my wife and we talked about it. For the rest of the week and through the weekend I couldn’t get it off my mind.
One of my basic beliefs is that nothing happens by chance. Everything has a purpose. So, why did I go for a walk with Fred that day? Why did Fred tell me that story? What was God trying to say to me. I just kept going over Fred’s words over and over in my mind. Finally, today after three days of searching, the light came on. Dimly at first but it became clear.
Gary, you’re right when you say no one will listen to you. So don’t waste your time trying to sway them to your way of thinking. And besides, this is not about you or what you think you have to say. This is about Me and what I have already said about the earth. Just tell them what I said over 4000 years ago immediately after the flood to Noah and his family and through him to all mankind throughout the ages.
Just show them My words and leave the rest up to Me.
OK Lord, I get it now. Thank you!
Here it is: Genesis 8:14-22 NKJV
And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
Then Noah built an alter to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the alter. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
September 27, 2021
