Matthew 5:44 (KVJ) …Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
I Peter 3:8-9 (NIV) Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. I Peter 3: 13- (NIV) Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. I Peter 2:12 (NIV) Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. I Peter 2:19 (NIV) For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. I Peter 2:21-23 (NIV) To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. | The Good Samaritan
December's brother-to-brother activity turned out to be more of an adventure than we expected. Shortly after leaving the church, while stopped at a light, we noticed a truck that had slid down into the ditch. We decided to put our faith in action and try to help the driver out. After an unsuccessful and muddy attempt, our fearless leader drove back to the church to get a towrope. While we were waiting, we parked the van nearby and took the opportunity to give our testimony and share the gospel with the unfortunate driver. Pray for him - he grew up attending a Christian school but has wandered from the faith. He told us that he accepted Christ when he was younger but hasn't attended church or opened a Bible in a long time. We told him that there was a reason that we were there helping him. Maybe, because of this situation, he will return to being an obedient, productive warrior for Christ.
Helping this guy out of the ditch only took about 10 minutes out of our day and we were eager to hop back in the van and head to the park to play ball. We headed to the van but when we got to where it was supposed to be parked, it was gone!!! At first, we thought it was stolen but after a couple mentors wandered around the parking lot and talked to some people, we found out that it had been towed. Yikes, we lost the church van because we stopped to help someone out! What to do, what to do? Our lunches were in there and so was all the gear to play ball. Sure we could go back to the church and get another van but we didn't have any equipment to play ball with. Well, we called the police to see if we could get the van back without paying the towing charge. As a result, we helped out a few other people that would have been towed. (The tow truck driver was hesitant to tow anybody while the police was there. Plus, we were warning people as they got out of their cars.) As it turns out, we still had to pay the fee and we burned almost half of the time that we had available for our activity. But the result was this: we were able to share the Gospel at least three times. First with the guy in the ditch, then with the people from the towing company and then at the park with someone we met there. When we found out the tow company was going to make us pay to get the van back, we were angry, upset and wanted to chuck rocks at the tow truck. But, when we stopped and asked ourselves what God was trying to teach us, (He is always trying to teach us something!) we came up with a few things.
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