Fun at the Fleadh!
Saturday at the Fleadh Nua in Ennis and the Lord sent wonderful, bright, dry weather (beautifully sunny in the afternoon, following buckets of rain in the morning!) for the folk of Clare to enjoy the party atmosphere! A large open-sided lorry had traditional Irish musicians playing to the passers-by at the Height so Nigel, Ann, and Dave Stevens (Pastor at Mallow Street Hall in Limerick) set up their picture board in Lower Market Street where the road is now blocked off to traffic.
Phil and I missed the start but arrived in time to hear the gospel message given out clearly but in very different ways by all three of them. The picture board is eye-catching and intriguing, as what looks at first like a load of random squiggles turns into words and pictures telling a story of salvation - once a few extra brushstrokes are added, that is! Plenty of people passed by, some stopped for a while and took tracts, some scoffed, one came back several times, and a few spent time in conversation. It was particularly encouraging that C came up and talked with Nigel - he had sounded genuinely interested in the gospel message when speaking with Ann on the previous Saturday street-witnessing night. Please pray that God’s word will have touched hearts, even of those who walked straight past or who appeared to be unwilling to listen.
Once the preaching was done, we enjoyed great fellowship over coffee in JDs before going our separate ways.
Phil, Ann and I returned in the evening for the street witnessing and used a poster with a musical theme - the song of the Lamb (Rev 15:3). There was no sign of any Fleadh musicians playing near the Monument so we rested the poster board up on the steps and waited to see who the Lord would send. An SUV was parked nearby and Phil noticed the driver waving and finally twigged that he was waving Phil over! So they spent some time in conversation about God through the window and Phil left him with a ‘Book of Life’ tract. Ann spoke to a young lady (L) who asked if Ann could imagine what it was like to have cancer! It turned out she had suffered from leukaemia at the age of three and she ended up tearful in telling her story. Meanwhile M came along and engaged Phil and me in conversation for about an hour! He had been in prison for several years and had spoken previously with both Vincent and John Mc. He was very drunk and, from my perspective at least, not always easy to know what he was driving at - and I felt it might not be a good idea to say anything that might cause offence! Nevertheless, it was clear that he was upset by the disappearance of his neice and her use of drugs and we were able to pray for him and for her too.
There was an unusual atmosphere in town - quite a lot of folk who might have been Fleadh performers (some with their instruments), lots of folk passing by in a purposeful manner, and even more than usual seeming drunk and a bit disorderly! Quite a few took tracts.
Please continue to pray for this work and for the power of the Spirit in our conversations. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.(Acts 19:8).
Ya, were we not blessed? I cant think of a better way to spend a saturday afternoon eh? I thank God for His Glorious Presence and I thank Him that ‘When I am weak, I am strong’(2Cor 12:10), a complete contradiction, but everything Jesus does contradicts the things of this world, and I thank Him that He chooses the foolish things to shame the wise!(1Cor 1:27). May we never stray far from the truth that we have an All powerful God, who is SO much bigger than all our imaginings. Lets do it again for Jesus soon!
Comment by Ann — Tue, 26. May 2009 @ 16:37