Jesus said to his followers, "Go into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every person."
Mark 16:15
My dear and faithful friend Mark is now visiting the war torn African nation of Uganda...
and preach the gospel to every person."
Mark 16:15
My dear and faithful friend Mark is now visiting the war torn African nation of Uganda...
He left for Uganda earlier this week, along with a handful of his co-workers. He's with an organization known as The Gideon's International. They go all over the world to give out bibles and Scriptures to people in their own languages.
I promised my friend that I will keep him and his fellow Gideons in prayer as they traveled. Mark, who's now retired, devotes much of his free time to preaching engagements when he's needed to fill in for a pastor, as well as doing his work with the Gideons.
He is also with a Christian Motorcycle organization, and has even visited prisons and jails to share the message of Jesus Christ. I've known Mark and his wife for over twenty years, and he has been kind enough to share my story of forgiveness, redemption, and hope in different venues when he feels it's appropriate. I am deeply grateful for this.
Besides, it was a small pocket-size Gideon New Testament with the Psalms included, which the Lord used to bring me to my knees. One cold night more than thirty years ago now, I was reading from my little Pocket Testament which another prisoner gave to me as a gift. And when I came across the thirty-fourth psalm and read the sixth verse which said, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles," that was all it took.
I felt a desire to get on my knees and pray. So on that hard concrete floor of my prison cell, I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to please forgive all my transgressions and crimes, and to come into my heart. Thankfully he did just that, and when I got up off my knees, my life was never the same.
Now, all these years later, I'm still sharing my story. It has since gone into different places and nations to inspire others to put their faith in the Lord Jesus, too. While I continue to pray for friends like Mark, as he and his fellow Gideons do their job of giving out Bibles and Scripture verses to a spiritually thirsty world.
D.B.
I promised my friend that I will keep him and his fellow Gideons in prayer as they traveled. Mark, who's now retired, devotes much of his free time to preaching engagements when he's needed to fill in for a pastor, as well as doing his work with the Gideons.
He is also with a Christian Motorcycle organization, and has even visited prisons and jails to share the message of Jesus Christ. I've known Mark and his wife for over twenty years, and he has been kind enough to share my story of forgiveness, redemption, and hope in different venues when he feels it's appropriate. I am deeply grateful for this.
Besides, it was a small pocket-size Gideon New Testament with the Psalms included, which the Lord used to bring me to my knees. One cold night more than thirty years ago now, I was reading from my little Pocket Testament which another prisoner gave to me as a gift. And when I came across the thirty-fourth psalm and read the sixth verse which said, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles," that was all it took.
I felt a desire to get on my knees and pray. So on that hard concrete floor of my prison cell, I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to please forgive all my transgressions and crimes, and to come into my heart. Thankfully he did just that, and when I got up off my knees, my life was never the same.
Now, all these years later, I'm still sharing my story. It has since gone into different places and nations to inspire others to put their faith in the Lord Jesus, too. While I continue to pray for friends like Mark, as he and his fellow Gideons do their job of giving out Bibles and Scripture verses to a spiritually thirsty world.
D.B.