Jesus is no longer with us on earth, but His Spirit is with us, and within us! I surrendered my life to the Lord 44-years ago, and I’m still here. Many years ago, I asked myself, ‘What on earth am I here for?’ ‘Am I here to become a better person before God beams me up to Heaven or what?’ Well, it didn’t take long before the ‘penny dropped’ in my thinking to know why I am here on earth.

Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He said to His disciples, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Wow! I’m here on earth to be ‘on His Majesty’s service’ (O.H.M.S.)! What is that service? To be His witness, a good-news reporter! Special note: The role of a reporter is to report on the news… not to create it! Jesus is ‘the’ good news! And, our job is to share news of Him with whomever shows enough interest.

The reality today is that very few people in affluent parts of the world show enough interest to hear any news about Jesus. To them, Jesus doesn’t compete well-enough with sport, sex, drugs, making money, recreation, etc.

Well, what can we do about this, give up? No, never do that. Instead, look up! By looking up to God, our Creator, we can receive from Him a limitless supply of creative ways to get the attention of any and every ‘hard to reach’ person.

Here are some of the creative ways I use to the get attention from people in my circle of life: A continuous supply of a complimentary can of Coke + Mars Bar is extended to David each week (our driver-operator of waste collection service), as well as to those who deliver parcels to our door; Beth is a check-out-chick at our ‘Wollies’ store where I shop for groceries. I treat Beth with specialty chocolates at various times of the year as an expression of thanks for her service; ‘Substance’ is the name of a nearby cafe that my wife and I frequent. Recently I gifted them a batch of homemade Billy’s Tomato-chilli Relish. They expressed appreciation for the gift and requested my recipe; My wife and I prepare cooked meals to gift to various people who live nearby. That’s an entree of my creativity.

My desire is to love people as God loves them… that is my only motivation for reaching-out to them through practical expressions that say, ‘God loves you, and so do I’. Being an effective ‘good-news reporter’ is my life’s profession!

Best wishes, 

Bill Joukhadar