Camp, Cars, and Christianity 101
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) It is comforting to know we serve a God Who supplies all our needs when we remain consistent and faithful to Him and His work. When we have lacked, God has showed us ways to make up the difference or sent a willing helper who unknowingly supplied a need. What seems to be a setback presents itself as an opportunity. The lessons and blessings we experience are more than would fit on any page.
On a cool summer night (it is always cool in Ireland), a young Nigerian man knocked on our door asking to come to our “Christianity 101” classes. He never showed up. The next week on Wednesday at precisely 7 p.m., the same teen arrived with his little brother. They have been faithfully coming on Wednesdays. We were able to have the new visitors come for the special six-week summer program we ran, precious fruits of our 1000 fliers and 18,550 adverts. Thank you for your prayers! On July 14, Keith II and I packed our bags and drove two hours across the island to Victory Youth Camp. There Keith II had fun, and I got to help reach the lives of the Irish youth. As soon as camp was done, Kelly and I celebrated our 13th anniversary with a lovely dinner in candlelight. A week and a half later, it was Keenan’s 6th birthday with a dinosaur theme. He was thrilled. The need for a new car has been arising for a while. We have been saving money toward getting a van, but either the price, mileage, or quality was not optimal on any vehicle we viewed. One particular van came up that seemed like the right one, but after inspecting it, there were many red flags. Finally, a black diesel van with 80,000 miles and seven seats came up. It seemed to meet all my qualifications, but it was located four hours south of us in the country. I rang the seller to see if there was some way we could meet, thinking he would say “No.” God had other plans. It happened that his mother lived 30 minutes from us, and he was willing to drive up. He also told me he would take 10% off if I would purchase the car that day (pending approval). Aside from a few tiny bumps and scrapes, the car was beautiful and drove well. I was able to pay him cash, so we owe nothing to the bank. This blessing was more than I imagined. Two days after the purchase, my mom flew in for a two-week visit to see her grandkids.
I am constantly studying and testing different ways to get the Gospel to people. I have found that using my questionnaire has given me more opportunities to give people a clear presentation of the Gospel. They seem to find the Gospel difficult to wrap their heads around, because the biblical Christ doesn’t fit the made-up Christ they have conceived in their minds. Then comes the obstacle of family and friends. If you choose to be a Christian, to choose anything other than Catholic is culturally treasonous. Please pray the seeds will bring fruit. During a recent soul-winning Gospel presentation, the lady to whom I was speaking refused to let me show her the Gospel from the Bible. Even though she agreed that she was guilty of violating God’s law, she insisted before I left that she knew she was going to Heaven because she was a good person. Ironically, her comment opened a new conversation where I was able to tell her the Gospel anyhow. We discussed the fact that if she could get to Heaven as a good person, then Jesus Christ wasted His time. The Bible says we can’t get to Heaven by our goodness, and trying to do so is essentially rejecting the sacrifice of Christ. She said, “I don’t care what the Bible says.” I told her that is exactly how she is rejecting Christ. Please pray she comes to understand her guilt before God and comes to Him for salvation.
Please continue praying for these needs:
1. Our support level has risen to 90% of what we need; please pray it might increase.
2. Citizenship (no word, but it is in the approval process)
3. Furlough plane tickets
Also, I want to thank all of the individuals and churches who faithfully pray for us, those who faithfully support us, and those who sent packages and letters. Also I want to thank Sandy Valley Baptist Church and the Vickerman family for recently choosing to financially support our ministry in Limerick.
Battling for Irish souls,
Keith W. Hamilton
