Gotta find a way, a better way, i'd better wait

Tom Price, a Reading graduate and Head of the UCCF's Apologetics website (go there NOW), came to do a lunchbar today on 'Does Religious Passion Lead to Terrorism?' and then to do some World View Survey training in the afternoon.
My story today isn't about Tom, or about the talk or the training, its about what God is doing at Reading, and how amazing, scary and challenging it is. Tom started talking at 1315...at about 1320 a guy walks in who was obviously heavily under the influence of alchohol, perhaps among other things. Tom stood, and explained the gospel through the spectrum of his title. It was during the Q and A our friend started to talk. It wasn't a point or question raised because of the talk, or anything even relevant to what he had heard, it was about the bigger question of morality and right and wrong, and the value of life. He was angry, not at Tom, or God or Christians, but at life. And sure, his language and behavior was pretty offensive, if one is offended by those things, and it would have been easier to wish that he wasn't there, and that he'd never come. But here's the point. He DID come. he came and heard the gospel. Perhaps for the first time. he was listened to, and Tom answered his questions well, and fully, centred on the cross. These are the people we need to reach. The people are regarded as a waste of time, as a curio, as someone who we wished was somewhere else. He came. God is doing big things. These are the people we must reach, the hopeless, the Godless, the people who have nothing but a can of lager in their hand at one o'clock in the afternoon. These are the people that must break our hearts, that we must sacrifice all things for to reach. Tom was great handling his questions, his attitude and demeanor. I'm sort of rambling, i don't really know where i'm going. I think he is the sort of guy i'd be if at Easter 2002 i'd turned by back on Jesus instead of embracing Him. Angry, sad, drunk, confused and lost. There, literally, but for the grace of God go I. So lets look for these people, lets reach them. Christ suffered far too much for us to decide that some people are troublemakers or difficult or too abusive or whatever.
God's really been speaking to me recently about how good it is to know Him. I'd been a Christian for nearly a couple of years when in February 2004, i had my heart broken. It would have been so easy then for me to give up and become my own god again. And i thank God every day that i didn't. That March 2002 and February 2004 saw me choose Christ over life, saw me persuing death to self and life in Christ instead of the world. CEx yesterday really made me think about how i'd view God at the moment if either of those moments in my life had gone differently. It makes me want to cry out with joy, and throw myself at the foot of the cross in praise for our wonderful, faithful living God.
Hope 2006 is exciting and scaring me in equal measure. Freshers week was amazing, for the number of people we got in contact with. I'm praying big numbers, big prayers for Hope 2006. Since my first year i've prayed on and off for an organised, Godly chaos because of the power of God's word proclaimed to unbelivers on campus. Judging by the events of the last couple of days...i see no reason to believe that God's name will be lifted higher than ever on campus during Hope 2006.

So seek out difficult people. Remember always that the only difference between them and you is that you are forgiven. Let God show you time and again how good it is to know Him, how good He is that we should know Him. And rejoice. And go into battle.