4. Cigarette Evangelism 9.30.19

 “Go show the world your kind of crazy Ash.”
What does that mean Lord?
“Why don’t you go and see for yourself? Ash.”

Well Lord, it’s because this is crazy, and I’m crazy and this doesn’t happen to people like me and I feel like a lunatic. “Just Go, you’ll see.” See what? Just tell me what to do. Lord! I’ve not eaten in days, I’ve not slept in days, when will this calm down? I’m kinda thinking I didn’t know what I was getting myself into here and my flesh won’t stop shaking like a leaf.

“That’s how this works and you know that by now. That’s how you know you’re close to me. Get your stubborn flesh and JUST Go, you’ll see. SHE WILL HAVE ONLY ONE LEFT”

God, no offense but what the crap is this now, “she will have only one left?” Why do I have to figure everything out? Why does everything you’re teaching me have to be all “Riddle me this Batman?!” “Ok. Ash. How about this one then smarty pants (yep the Lord God called me smarty pants, because it got my attention) GO MEET A NEED.”

“Haven’t we been through 1 Corinthians Ash? You know better. Now Go!” “And get to reading 2 Peter”

Meet a need, she will have only one left, 1 Corinthians, 2 Peter. Hmmm, ok I guess this is that fun crazy stuff everyone talks about. I’ll go and meet a need.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus

Ok fine, now go where, Lord? Leah is in school and Nash is in daycare and I don’t have much to do. I don’t feel like going anywhere today. “Take that box to the post office with your glasses to send them back.” Now come on Lord, that means I have to go all the way to Staples and print a label, then go to the post office. It’s like a whole to do. “Go”

Next thing I know I’m on my way to Staples. Of course Staples is taking forever and I’m completely frustrated in my flesh and I just want to take this label for that box and go home and shove it somewhere and go lay down, but I knew in my heart that by now I should know better and listen to what I’m prompted to do.

I drive to the post office and I park my car. As I am getting ready to go in I see a woman across the street sitting in a chair on the sidewalk and the Holy Spirit is pulling me over to her and I think, ugh this is crazy. She’s going to think I’m nuts how do I do this? What do I say? I’ve never been comfortable walking up to strangers and talking to them about anything. Let alone talking to strangers about the Lord God. Who I am getting an intense three week crash course on. Now, all of a sudden, just like that you’re telling me that I can put on my little Holy Spirit evangelism cape and just talk to people when I never could before? What do I say? My flesh doesn’t wanna.

So next thing I know I’m walking across the street and down the sidewalk going to say something (I don’t know what) to someone I don’t know and have never met before, because this Holy Spirit is pulling me to go over there. This is nuts! But that voice rang through me again “She will have only one left”.

I don’t know if I’ll ever really get it, this whole hearing from God and knowing your calling thing, my flesh wants to wrestle with everything the Lord God is calling me to do and it makes it very hard to hear his voice over the noise of this world (a wise man once mentioned something like this in church). How noisy is your every day life? Can you even hear Him if He tries to reach you? Do you even take the time to listen? Please wake up to the evil in this world. Time is running out.

So now I’m thinking ok, I’ll go see if there is a need I can meet for her. She probably is almost out of something that I can pick up at the store for her and only has one left. So I be bop over there all happy smiley creepy Christian getting ready to vomit love all over this strange lady who thinks I’m nuts in the name of the all mighty God. She’s going to throat punch me for being a creep. You watch. Who does this? And I hear from God “my disciples, don’t you remember your calling?”

I walk up to this lady thinking she’s going to think I’m nuts, and I start small talk asking her how she is. I said, “I know this sounds crazy but I wanted to see if there was a need you had that I could help you meet. Because God led me over to you to let you know that he is with you and hearing your prayers” She very politely said thank you but was short and said she didn’t need anything.

So I walk to the post office and I’m kind of grouchy thinking “she will only have one left, meet a need” yeah right what crap. I’m losing it, I’m not hearing from God and I hear him say “don’t doubt, it’s not her”.

So now I finish up at the post office all frustrated thinking this was for nothing, this trip out was bs Lord. I am going home. As I am driving home it hits me like a ton of bricks. The word Cigarettes boom right in my soul. It gave me goosebumps and I got as excited as a little kid and I thought this is it, this is the word I needed I feel it. Cigarettes? What does this mean? This is nuts! So I go and buy one pack of cigarettes and a pop and as I drive back I see she’s gone so I left them on the chair she was sitting on for when she comes back down for her next smoke.

Now I’m thinking ok, I’ve done my duty I can go home and watch tv. So I am sitting on the couch and this burning in my stomach to GO out in the world was insane, this fire welling up in me pulling me out there somewhere and I thought no, I’m done for the day.

Then I check Snapchat. In my messages I see a little girl that needs prayer. (See how the Lord works through you without even knowing) A heartbreaking story of infant child abuse that reignites the fire of rage and hatred in me for the devil and for the evil that he is putting forth on this earth. My heart was broken and I thought to myself with tears of rage and deep hurt in my eyes, how, how can anyone on this earth combat this evil Lord?! HOW?! And I hear the words “get their attention!”

How do I get their attention? I can’t even get someone across the street from the post office to say more than five words to me. How?! “Leave that up to me, use the words I gave you, SHE WILL HAVE ONLY ONE LEFT.”

Now I am in my car, angry at the devil, determined to spread an act of love for every act of hatred. Driving down 857 thinking I’m going to do something and I don’t know what and then it hits me like the light bulb went off. I’ll do some cigarette evangelism to get their attention.

No Ash, wait a minute here. You’re telling me that God gave you a word to go buy cigarettes that kill people and go hand them out?! That’s insane.

What the Holy Spirit led me to say about it is this. They will smoke with or without Jesus. Meet them where they are to get them where they need to go. Get their attention Ash. Meet a need, take them off guard, show them that the Lord God cares about the little things they need. Every cigarette in that pack will be a reminder of my kindness. They may begin by getting that pack out and saying with the first one, huh Jesus loves me, yeah right. Maybe tomorrow the same thing, and the next day. But every time they put one of those cigarettes up to their lips (even if they immediately tear that plastic off the outside and toss it in the trash) they will think, even if it’s sarcastically and unbelieving, that “Jesus loves me” Plant the seed Ash, it’s time to get their attention in ways that are unconventional. It’s time to show them how to combat the evil. It’s time to help me work through you to bring them home.

So I go to the dollar store and I ask the clerk if they have any sales on cigarettes and she says yeah Marlboro’s. Now anyone who knows me knows that my dad smokes Marlboro reds his whole life. When I was in sixth grade I started stealing packs of his cigarettes to smoke. I’d take two at a time so it looked the same in the carton either flush or staggered. I smoked Marlboro reds until I figured out we could take $2.25 up to Stringhills Pizzaria and buy Marlboro lights out of the cigarette machine out by the back door. 🤦🏻‍♀️ what a coincidence?!

So I tell her I just need a variety because I’m going to hand them out to people down town after I write Jesus loves you on them. This woman looked at me like I was insane. So she bagged them up and I went out to my car and wrote on both sides of each pack with a sharpie, Jesus loves you. Thinking I have to get their attention. That baby almost died, have you seen the news, there’s evil everywhere. I’m acting like I am waiving a news paper in my hands going “extra, extra, read all about it. The Devil is trying to overtake the earth!!!”

So I head down town and I find a place to park and I get out with my dollar general bag full off smokes from Jesus like a nut job and shut the car door and the instant that door closes it’s like everything changes around me. I start looking around.

What I see/feel, I kid you not, was almost exactly what that 80’s movie trailer I shared a while back titled “They Live” looked like, only worse. I could see the crowds of people walking up and down the streets of Uniontown and some of the people were happy and had faces full of light, their joyful gait (the way they walk) parted the dark fog as they walked just as the Red Sea parted for Moses. The dark fog, though it wanted to attack their feet and ankles, it couldn’t. Light will cast out darkness. Other folks on that road were shrouded in darkness. Their eyes were dull to me, they were lifeless and held so much anger, but deeper there was a sadness, an almost hopeless shame, that feeling I recognized like looking in a mirror. The look as if they had given up on ever finding anything good in this world. The feeling of not being worthy of salvation. I saw that black fog going rampant through the streets but it wasn’t a rolling fog like you see outside in nature. It was a black fog that crawled across the ground like it would devour everything in its path. This fog not only covered the ground and crawled outward but it also crawled upward seeking to devour. Some folks had it up to their ankles, some to their knees, some were completely covered in it from head to toe. As I walked downtown I kept thinking to myself I have to reach them all but I can’t. I have to reach them all but I can’t. This panic, this urgency that is being spoken to me is like no horror I have ever felt or seen.

I try to snap out of it and I go talk to this guy named Jim. (Don’t worry it was the middle of the day in public with lots of people and I have taken a few self defense classes in my day and well, I can cut a b*^#h if I have to) so I say “hey man, do you smoke?” and he’s like patting himself down and he goes “I don’t have any.” So I say “want some Marlboros” and he looks at me like I’m crazy and I show the bag of goodies and he picks the kind he likes and he reads the box. He looks at me and goes Does your church do this? And I said ”No, but I guess I do, I have to get peoples attention.” He asked where church was and I told him the location, days and times. I asked if he needed prayer and he said “no thanks” and went his way and I went mine. I hope I planted a seed.

I encountered a few more people that day in the hour that I walked down town. Some were receptive, some were dismissive (never be pushy, just show love, wish them well and move on to the next). Some were kind and shared stories with me. Some looked at me like I was crazy. But the funny thing was that everyone who took a pack, got the kind they normally smoke. It was crazy. I had enough of the right ones for the right people. Down to the very last one.

There was the guy who “didn’t smoke” but had a cigarette in his hand. When he saw me handing them out instead of bumming one, he came back over and asked me if he could have some and I said “Absolutely, boldness is good on you, here you go. Jesus loves you” and that was it. I hope I planted a seed. Sometimes they wouldn’t even look me in the eye, the dark ones. They need to shed their shrouds of shame and realize they are children of God. They can be forgiven if they repent and ask for forgiveness.

There was this guy with no hair. He was in such a rush but he had a smoke in his hand and the anxiety coming off of him hit me in the face two blocks away. As he got closer, I tried a few times to make eye contact and he kept looking down. I’m thinking do not look to the depths below but look to the heavens above for salvation! He was rushing past and I said “Hey, want a free pack of smokes?” He looked at me like I was nuts and that no one had shown him kindness in ages. It was all over his face. He stopped and laughed like he thought I was lying. I said “what kind?” He goes “menthol”. I say “ok man here you go, sorry you’re in such a hurry take care.” He took them and read them and was taken back by it as to look at me and say really, me? So I say “yes you, have a good day” planting a seed.

There was a nice brunette who took them and chatted a bit with me. She had been looking for a church but wasn’t sure about it. She asked about where it was and I told her. She said “Jesus wouldn’t want want me smoking would he?” I simply said back “He will meet you where you are to bring you where you need to be”.

Now I’m down to two packs left, lights and menthol. I see this man smoking by a dumpster and he made eye contact a few times you could tell he was trying to figure out what was up and I go over and I’m like you smoking man? He goes “yeah”. I said what kind? He goes “Menthol”. I said “you’re in luck, it’s my last one” I handed it to him and he thanked me and I moved on.

The last pack was a pack of lights. I see this woman down by Phil’s hoagies and she has a pink jacket and her light was so pretty and I though could this be her?! I was so excited, I am jumping out of my skin on the inside but I was being all cool on the outside and I walk up to her and I say “Excuse me ma’am, this is crazy but do you by chance smoke? And she pulls out this blue pack from her pocket that is crunched up and she says with sadness like she really wanted to help me and share one with me. Like she would have given the shirt off of her back for me she puts her head down and says “I do, but I don’t even like this kind and I only have one left, I’m so sorry.”

I almost screamed in excitement in this lady’s face. So I say to her “by any chance do you like Marlboro lights?” She says “yeah that’s my usual brand but I haven’t had enough money to get them so I’ve been buying these cheap ones. So I tell her “this is crazy but God told me you would be here and that you would only have one cigarette left and I brought you these to let you know that he is with you and is hearing your prayers. That woman looked at me and tears welled up in her eyes and I said “oh I’m sorry can I hug you?!” And she said “yes” so I hugged her and let her know again that he is hearing her prayers. She was mind blown and it made her cry. She didn’t want to talk much about what was going on but She asked about our church and I told her about it. I really hope I see her again. But if I don’t, she will still be in my prayers. She will always be a lesson and a great gift from God to me. Thank you Cindy.

I still get it wrong, it wasn’t the lady at the post office like I thought it was. I was busy rushing to the next person instead of listening to stories like I should have. God was using this event to teach me that it’s not always what I think it is. It’s usually something even better when God’s working through people. What if I hadn’t checked that Snapchat? What if I had stayed home? What if?!

So now let’s dive in to 2 Peter for some scripture on strengthening your faith which was my big lesson here.

2 Peter 5-8
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ

It’s time to get their attention any way they will listen Ash! GO and bring glory to the Lord God Almighty.

Let’s banish some of this evil to the pit guys, before it takes over the earth.