Hi friends,
 
            In the first chapter of John, John the Baptist was hanging out with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples immediately start following Jesus. One of them was named Andrew. I love what the gospel says next. It says,
 
            The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
 
            Often when it comes to bringing people to Jesus this is not the first thing we do. We want to make sure we understand Jesus enough. We want to make sure that our lives are together enough. We want to take things slow (read: slooooooooow).  But this was not Andrew’s way. His first impulse was that he wanted those closest to him to meet Jesus.
 
            He doesn’t have a solid justification for why Jesus is who He said He is. Andrew had just encountered Christ and was convinced enough to tell Simon.
 
            How are we doing with this? Are we prepared to tell others about Jesus?
           
            I was downtown Calgary a couple of weekends ago. It was early on Saturday morning and I was having a coffee outside one of the downtown Tim Hortons. As I sat there, I realized that it was a rougher area of town. There were lots of homeless people around to the point where I really felt like an outsider.
 
            I was to speak at another pastor’s ordination service the next day and I was writing out my short speech. I started by describing how this pastor was loved and created by God and what that meant. As I was writing, a homeless guy sat down a couple of tables from me.  Even as I wrote the words describing the pastor, God was whispering to me that that was how He felt about the homeless man. The impression was so strong that I realized that God was urging me to share His love with that man.
 
            The man’s name was Matthew. He looked to be in a lot of pain. I asked him if he was ok, and he told me that his hand was infected because he had been tattooing himself. I asked if I could pray for his healing. (I was a bit shocked that I said that). He agreed and after I prayed, I asked him if his hand felt any different. He was able to close it more than he could before and he said that it was, in fact, a bit better. I tried to engage in spiritual conversation with him, but he shut me down pretty quickly. He said he didn’t like to engage theological discussions in public. I told him that all I wanted to say to him was that he was deeply loved by God. He opened up a bit and shared a little of his story before he had to leave.
 
            I didn’t see Matthew give his life to Jesus right there and then, but I did get to do what Andrew did; I got to introduce him to the God who has made such a massive change in my life.
 
            It wasn’t really all that scary once I knew that Jesus was asking me to talk to him.
 
            I am praying for more opportunities like that for me and for you as well. Let’s ask Jesus to put in us the courage and motivation of Andrew to bring people to Himself.
 
            This weekend we will be celebrating our first anniversary of our Room to Grow campaign. AND THERE WILL BE CUPCAKES!!! Our elders will be serving them and will be open to any questions that you might have regarding the campaign. Plus, I am going to tell one FANTASTIC story that will blow you away (well, it almost knocked my socks off, anyway).
 
            I hope to see you on the weekend.
 
            I love being your pastor.
 
Pastor Tim