THE 'BUT' OF THE CROSS

If you have been monitoring this blog in the last while, you would have seen that I have implemented a cross as part of my evangelistic effort to draw people on the street into a gospel conversation.

On the cross is the question "Are You Ready".
If you are new to this concept, read here to see how it all began.

If you have read any of my witnessing reports regarding the use of the questioning cross, or that of any other blogging street evangelist who has utilized it and wrote of his own experience, then you have been made aware of how effective this tool can be in drawing the attention and curiosity of passersby.

So much so, we see the cross and the question actually draws many to approach the evangelist to ask a question that puts the topic of the gospel at the very forefront of the conversation.

For lack of a better analogy, the cross has proven to be a great "fishing rod".

Now, as some have noticed, I have recently made a small alteration by prefixing the question on the cross with the word "BUT". Some of the some are wondering why. It's really no big deal, but I am happy to explain.

A couple of days before the Ottawa gay pride parade I was preparing to witness at, I was thinking about the "Are You Ready" question. The question certainly stands on its own as a means of causing people to question the question - in a general sense. No question about it.

There was, yet, a part of me that wanted to connect the event at hand directly to the question on the cross and, hopefully, cause people to contrast what they are doing in the immediate with what the question implies regarding their eternal destiny.

Hence, "But..."

In this case, it was as if to say: "Gay or not, you may be parading, celebrating and promoting the homosexual lifestyle and sexual promiscuity, but are you ready to face God on Judgment Day to answer to it?"

The conjunction, "but", put the act of what the people were doing at the moment directly into the equation.

Now, that is NOT to say that the question without the conjunction would not have been effective. Not at all. I just wanted to add a slightly more immediate dimension to the question to make it relevant to the theme of the event.

Get my drift?

Then I thought it might be good for other events or within other scenarios where people are gathered for a common purpose whether what is taking place is in violation to the laws of God or not.

The questioning cross still works as a general means of causing people to think when they see it being held up on a street corner as they pass by on the sidewalk or in their cars.

I have decided to keep the conjuncture as the prefix to the question on the cross. The actual word is just above the cross beam and in smaller letters than the original question, therefore, the main point of the question that people still see and read is "Are You Ready".

Like I said, no big deal. It isn't better than the original question. But I found it has been useful in leading people to contrast what it is they are doing at the moment with what the question implies regarding their eternal destination.

The most curious still come to ask the question: "Ready for what?"

Enter the gospel.

(There ya go, dede!)