Bible Handout: Done

Bible handout; all done.

I had been prepping the Bibles for days.  I purchased greeting cards and signed each one, then put them with the Bibles.  The big ones got ribbon curls, the smaller ones got a gift bag.  I had about 200 items total.



Ron was pretty upset he had lost his player, and said he would get me there but he wasn't going to help in any way.  In fact, he said he would drop me and then leave

That would be a trick, being blind and in the wheelchair and all.

I got up, did my God time, and prayed on what to wear.  It was damp, cold, and a little drizzly.  I was thinking I'd need something warm, but I felt that I should just wear my long sleeve black thermal top and my black sweatpants.  I did.  I also wore my "crossing guard" style reflective vest.  I bought a jacket just in case.

I brought a wool blanket for Ron.

Our ride came and he was gaping at the setup.  I had a milk crate, a cardboard box, and a huge tote full of Bibles.  I had also brought the folding hand cart because Ron kept threatening to leave.

I told him I could take the bus, but he said no.  He just complained a lot.  :scratch

We got in and it was a straight trip.  Instead of starting at 7, I started at about a quarter 'till.  No one else on the corner.

It's interesting how it works, I can tell from some people's body language, they are very intrigued and probably a recipient.  One driver, at the light, was watching me set up, watching very intently.  I waved the sign at her and she rolled the window down.

BOOM.  2 down.

Then the next light cycle was completely dead, with indifferent people looking right through me.

That's the nice thing about a handout, it's very humbling.  No one laughed at me this time, that I saw :pound.  But a very large percentage of the people look right through me, or don't even look at all.  I told myself, some of them might be "bad" so it was a good thing, but so, so, many of them seemed so profoundly unhappy.  I wanted to hug them and impart God's love to them, but I couldn't.   All I could do was hold my sign, next to their car, and pray for them.

I brought Ron the "little" sign.  He held it up and he had at least a couple recipients out of it.  They ignored me, but as they pulled up to the light they actually SAW Ron and decided, huh, I'll take one.

At first it was pretty typical; I'd hand out a couple Bibles at a time, to one or two cars, then several "dead" light cycles.  As it got later, the cars stacked up and I had an EXPLOSION!

At one point, it seemed as though every car at the light, wanted Bibles.  More than one.  How many could they get?  3?  4!  I want one for my sister!  I was running around like a cyclone, shoving Bibles in car windows, getting honked at, run to the next, give them Bibles, HONK!  Run to the next car and the one after that!

Whoo!  After that, I needed a break!  I was running around so much my glasses were fogging up.

The Spanish went really fast, like they always do.

Some of the recipients were clearly touched by the effort I'd taken, with the gift bags.  I found that really satisfying.  It took me days to do them all up!

I kept running back to my boxes for refills, panting.  :lol   Plenty of "open hearts for the gospel!"

My favorites:
Young man got off the bus, crossed right in front of me.  Clearly buying a gift.  I gave him 2, one for him, one for his sweetie.  He loved them.

The gray pickup wanted a Bible, right as the light changed.  I begged him to come back, and he did.  It was so rewarding to hand him a few.

3 guys got off the one bus, and transferred to another.  They had to walk right past me so I handed each of them a Bible as they passed.  And they took them!

I think the most interesting, I had bent over and several Spanish Gospels of John had fallen out of my bag.  I had gathered them up and held them in my hand.  I was walking back to my box after a fruitless poll of the cars, and a young Spanish guy crossed right in front of me.  I handed them off, he took them, and thanked me.
All the school bus drivers wanted a Bible.  I think every one I saw, took a Bible.

Speaking of school buses; a bus full of kids saw me and were clamoring for Bibles.  The bus was already moving, but boy that would have been great.

One woman told me, "My son saw you, and said 'Mommy, can I have a Bible?  Please let me have a free Bible!''  She came back and I gave them each one.

I have, in the past, handed a few Bibles to each person; but God let me know if someone asks for one, just give them the one.  I did that and had my fastest handout ever.

I handed out just short of 200 items today.

You know what's coming now: PLEASE pray for the recipients!