Tracting turns to fellowship in South Perth

I was behind with my tracting so I decided to start my morning with God in South Perth and do some tracting.  As usual I was seeking for the quick shoot and run opportunities.  When I arrived at the shore, I noticed the bench I wanted to sit at was taken by an old-ish couple.  Something said to me that I should tract them, but I chose not to because it would mean I would have to talk to them – I was looking for someone “on the move”.  After a stroll to the jetty and back, the couple were still there, so I said a little prayer and held the courage to approach them.

As I handed the tract and about to speak, I realised in front of the couple were Bibles, journals and Christian books!  They were a couple doing devotions together! It was so sweet!  After sharing a bit, I told them we were doing 30in30.  The wife asked me if I would like to hear a story, so I thought sure.  Not long into the sharing, I realised she was talking about the man on George Street in Sydney!  In my excitement, I told her “I know that story!” But I think she was having so much joy in sharing, she continued to tell me the story anyway.  Her husband tried hinting her that she didn’t have to continue, but she did.  It was such a blessing to hear her heart rejoice in sharing. :)

The husband asked me which church I attend, I told him Bible-Presbyterian church, his response was “BIBLE-Presbyterian?  Your church must really believe in the Bible.”  So I shared with him that is true, and I thank God for that, because I used to go to a charismatic church.  He then asked me why I changed from a charismatic church to a Presbyterian?  I paused for a moment because only a couple of days ago, I was asked this very same question.  He noticed my pause and explained to me that he used to go to a Baptist church then to a charismatic and now moved back to a Baptist.  I shared with him how God lead me, shared about differences in teaching – that the charismatic were wrong in many aspects of their teaching, and I finished up by talking about worship.  The conversation later lead to various things like creation etc, but before I left I had this strange urge to ask him if he was a pastor.  Not that he was quoting a lot of verses to me or anything, it was more of his gentle conduct and the impressive hand written journal in front of him.  He replied and said that he used to pastor a church up north but recently moved to Perth and now worship in a Baptist church (he’s on a “break”).

I didn’t know this at the time, but later I realised he was pastoring a charismatic church and moved back to Baptist – that’s why he had asked me why I changed.  Thank God for the order of things that had just happened.  I think if I knew he used to pastor a charismatic church, I would had been reserved in my sharing and not so bold as I was.  I guess God knew.  I feel quite heavy burden for this couple as I feel there may be some unanswered questions weighing on their hearts, guess this is where I can pray.