Christmas in the Park Witnessing Part 3

Two beautiful young ladies approached me, I call it "God sent" or "Divine Appointment".  They were also volunteering for Christmas in the Park asking for donations.  Their names were, Grishma left, and Krishna right.  They were friends from Valley High School.

"Would you donate to Christmas in the Park?"  they asked.  Although, I had already donated to the other girls, I knew it was a great opportunity to share with them too.

"Sure,"  I said smiling. "So, you are volunteers for Christmas in the Park.  That's great!  Do you know what Christmas is all about?" They looked as each other smiling and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"I don't know", said Grishma.

"Here, this is a quiz of how well you know about Christmas."  Immediately, I could tell they were ready to talk and listen.  I asked a couple of the trick questions.  They had fun answering.  I asked the question about why Christmas on December 25th.  Krishna said,

"Jesus' birth?"

"Actually, Jesus wasn't really born on December 25th."

"Oh, yeah that was Easter," said Grishma quickly and softly as if not really sure either.

"That is when Jesus rose from the death, " I clarified.  Then gave a quick history about how it used to be a pagan holiday.  "Christmas is when we remember Christ's birth, it was actually never celebrated until about 300 AD.  God doesn't ask us to celebrate  it.   But it is very important to remember and celebrate it too.  So, do you know why God chose to become a man and come into the world as a Babe?"

"No,"  they were honest.  By this time I realized that Christmas is not about Jesus anymore but about Santa Claus, Christmas trees and presents.  Families are not passing the truth unto their children.

"You know, the Christmas songs," I prodded, "about Joy to the World, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King..."  But I knew they still had no clue.  They were smart girls and were interested in the questions.  "Here is another questions: If Santa was to used the Ten Commandments as a standard for naughty and nice, how would you measure up?"

"Ummm,"  giggled Grishma, "can you be in the middle?"

"Nooooo!" Kishna was quick to answer.

"Well, you are either naughty or nice, there is on in between," I too clarified.

"Yeah," Krishna asserted, as if knowing what it meant, but was rather thoughtful to answer the question herself.

"Nice?"  Grishma finally answered doubting herself.

"Well, then, let me ask you some questions to see if that's true.  Have you ever told a lie?"

"White lies?"  she said.

"Ok, yeah, white lies are lies.  Have you ever disobeyed your parents?"

"No."

"Never? Wow," I turned to my little girls, "Did you girls hear that, Grishma has never disobeyed her parents!"  We all know disobedience is rooted in the heart since birth.

"Have you used God's name in vain like OMG?"

"Yes", they both laughed admitting it.

"Ok, so when you die and you are before God, the Judge, you have admitted to have broken at least two of the Ten Commandments.  Will you stand guilty or innocent?"  Even though, I didn't go through all the Ten Commandments and they were very smart good girls, for some reason, they knew they were in trouble, especially Grishma.  I could tell the Holy Spirit had prepared her heart.  She really thought she was a very good innocent girl.  All of the sudden, she knew she was guilty.

"Does that concern you; where you will spend eternity?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do" she nodded with a worried serious expression and singling herself now from her friend who too nodded.

"God is Just and therefore he has to punish your sin.  The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death."  Now, they were  listening attentively like sponges. "There is a way out, do you want to know how?" I asked keeping them is "suspense".  "God, came down from His throne and took your guilt, your sin, your penalty by dying a horrible death on the cross.  You can go free, if you repent from your sin."  Their eyes widened.  "To repent means to turn away from your sin, to hate and forsake it....  Isn't that amazing!"

"Yeah," they nodded as if still taking it all in.

"It is a message of love!"  I affirmed them.  "That is how much God loved you.  He wants to save you from going to hell And more than that, He wants to adopt you so you become His daughter...."

"Wow! Thank you for talking to us!" said Grishma with a pleasant smile and still thinking about what I had shared.

"Will you girls think about your eternity, repent from your sin and trust in Jesus alone for your salvation..."

"Yes, I will," asserted Grishma once again answering for herself.  And she thanked me again for talking to her.

"I do want to thank you too for listening to me.  I have a gift for you!  A friend of mine made this CD."  Joyfully I gave them a CD of "The Road that Takes me Home" by Dorothy Schwartz.  I also gave them each a copy of the Christmas Story.  I told them to share it with their family.  They said they will and were grateful to receive the CD and the story and said they will share it.  (The Christmas Story list dates and Prophetic Scriptures of Jesus birth,  Scripture about His birth and the reason why He came to the world.)

I would have spent more time with them, but my little people had been patient to wait for me to take them to the bathroom.   I gave the Grishma and Krishna my e-mail to keep in touch and let me know how they are doing.  I pray this seed will produce much fruit.

Jose  and I talked to a couple more and also found out that Christmas really didn't mean anything other than pretty decorations.  One man answered, "Isn't it about people getting drunk?" he was being honest, not being sarcastic or rude.   Jose took on this conversation.  The man was also pretty open, he had never heard the message either.  I had seen him earlier, by himself on his bike, going from display to display and just looking at them as if wanting to learn something from them.  Sadly, they are cute, but tell nothing about Christmas, except for the Nativity one.

I like talking to young people.   If you are friendly, they are ready to listen.  I found out they were the most open to the Gospel.  This whole experience was also a reminder that Christmas doesn't mean people are thinking about Jesus.  It's just easy to bring up the subject.  So, take the opportunity to let people know what it's all about.

Part 4 is not over yet, we hope to come back.