I Can

I Can's of Faith

Doing God’s work in any fashion takes a great deal of faith and commitment. I remember how reticent I felt the first time I was asked to share my faith to college students I did not know on a beach in Southern California some 35 years ago. This first experience of sharing my faith was with Campus Crusade for Christ. The late Bill Bright, with whom most of you are acquainted, founded Campus Crusade for Christ. Every spring Campus Crusade would invade the beaches of Southern California with the Gospel. They did it using a little four-law booklet called the Four Spiritual Laws. It was a very simple, but effective approach to sharing the Gospel. I was part of one of these very first spring outreaches; it was centered in the Balboa Pavilion, and so we called it BAL Week. Campus Crusade for Christ contacted a singing group I was in to back up Andre Cole, a Gospel magician who performed in the Pavilion every evening. We were called the Something Singers under direction of Sonny Salsbury, a very talented musician and great youth director. There were about 20 of us in the group, and none of us had any crusade experience. Most of us had never even led anyone to Christ. It was a very exciting week; we sang at night, and then rested during the day. That is until some Crusade staff challenged several of us to join them and go out and present the Four Spiritual Laws on the beach. I remember saying to myself, “Can I do this?” Well, I decided to give it a try. When I showed up at Newport the next morning, I was shocked when I was joined with about 600 others ready to pass out the Four Spiritual Laws to people we had never seen before. I was still a little apprehensive, but was greatly relieved when I was paired with an old veteran Crusader. I was put with him so I could learn how to witness in the right way. Then all of a sudden a bugle blew! That’s right. Someone actually blew a bugle, which started everyone at the same time. You can imagine what the beach-goers must have thought when they saw 600 of us headed their way. In my heart I thought this would never work, but it was very exciting. The old crusader with me was not so old; in fact, he was young enough to be drafted into the army. I learned later, he was headed to Vietnam the next week. To this day, I do not know if he survived. I have never seen him since. So before he left he wanted share all he knew with someone on how to lead others to Christ. And I was the one God selected to benefit from his experience. After we witnessed unsuccessfully to a few, we came to three rather resistant guys. I didn’t think we had a chance with these guys, but this veteran assured me that we did, if we had faith. And so he presented the Four Spiritual Laws and then asked each of them “Is there any reason why you would not want to receive Christ?” All said there was no reason not to, and all received Christ that afternoon. We prayed together, and then I took their addresses to follow up. Since that time I have learned that there are a lot of things I can do if I have faith, whether it is presenting the Gospel on a beach, gaining victory over a weak area of my life, or opening my home for a 40 Days of Purpose Campaign.

Teachable Moment

There are many I cans to be claimed in God’s Word. Some deal with the faith needed to share the Gospel, and others deal with the basic struggles of life. Your whole family, from the youngest to the oldest, can share this teachable moment. Before you read this teachable moment to your children, send them out on a can hunt. Any can will do, but it would be best if they all were about the same size. When you have collected 12 cans, clean them up and take the old labels off. After the cans are ready line them up and put new labels on them as suggested below. Each can represents a part of life that says, through faith in Christ, “i can do this,” “i can think this way.” Write out each promise and verse as suggested below. Put each of those written promises and verses in a can, and then re-label the can according to what’s now in the can. Find a place to put all twelve cans, perhaps in a reachable part of the garage. Tell your children that if they ever feel they can’t do something to go to that row of cans. Let them know that they are free to take out and reread the promises and verses. And if they are too young, they can come to you for assistance. Each time they go during the course of the year to a particular can, have them write down their name and the day they read what was inside. At the end of the year, the family will gather again to look at contents of each can. If there is one can fuller than another, then perhaps this is where God is doing His greatest work in your family. Paul suggested this when he said that his greatest strength was his greatest weakness, because it is where he had to rely on God the most.

II Corinthians 12: 9-10 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

1. Why should I say I can’t do what is in front of me, when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength to do it?