Gospel sharing is never simple, but we can start by thinking about personal conversations that move from external to internal (pain points) to eternal (here is the better gospel story.) Practically, what does that look like?. Wagner lesson on Evangelism -desk

In our gospel sharing series we are talking about the better story. I don’t know that there is a better story or metaphor for our hearts than the story of the prodigal son. The story of these sons and their father reaches beyond the good news that we are saved from the debt of sin and reveals the warmth of the Father’s intimate love. The younger son is saved from the foreign land of isolation and starvation and is welcomed home, where he belongs. The desire and the delight of the Father is to have his children home. To be out of harm's way is good, but we long for more than the rescue. We long to be reconciled, to belong to the father, to others, and to a place we call home. The gospel is good news because it accomplishes both – the rescue and the reconciliation. 

When we start to think about how we tell the gospel story, Jesus gives us a good strategy in the story of Zaccheus. (Chatraw Ch 8 - a better happiness) - he invites him to a meal during which Z realizes Jesus is a better happiness – not in wealth and material things, but in people and generosity and service, leading to transformation of heart – and action.

The car commercial says "I have chosen to be unapologetically me." That was the woman at the well. (Chatraw Ch 7) She was living her life just the way she wanted - unconstrained - but Jesus offers her a better way - a picture of self in which she is satisfied by the love of God. And she walks away from it - having been revealed - in a positive way, saying "Come meet this guy."

Paul introduces us to a new way of gospel sharing, one that moves from "let me convince you" to building on common ground (they were religious) and showing them that the gospel is a better story – but done in such a way that leaves them wanting more. Could we do that?

Angels have always been part of our curiosity but they are more than that - they point to our interest in what lies beyond the physical world. We want to believe in worlds beyond, but our minds and hearts seem unable to apprehend that world. Angels, and other texts, remind us to pray about and take hope in the reality of the spiritual world. (Psalm 91:9-13)

Even in the darkness, we have to learn to watch for the Lord - to see His hand, to find small lights illuminating perhaps just a small patch of ground ahead. It is like watching for the first shoots of growth on a tree to tell us that winter will soon pass once more. (Psalm 130)

God puts so much emphasis on marriage that he placed it at the beginning of Scripture (Genesis 2:20-25), in the middle of Scripture (Jesus' first miracle in John 2), and at the end of Scripture (Revelation 21). Therefore, a holy marriage is one of the greatest testimonies of God's love we can give to this world. If we want our families to be holy, we must first start by striving to make our marriages holy.

Reflections on the purpose, meaning, significance, and beauty of the Church from my Sabbatical.

All of us will grieve at some point in time. If we don't, it will surely manifest itself in other forms. We need our tears and we need to find the mystery of God's tenderness even in that grief.