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The Story of Mark: 2 Peter 3:9 God is not slow in keeping His promises. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. Bottom Line: God's ultimate purpose for His Word is to lead lost souls to Christ so they will be reunited with Him in Heaven.
Phase 1: The Word of God stops My Atheist Friend from committing Suicide:
In 2002, I was sitting at the computer and wondered what happened to my friend, Mark, from Ball State. I looked on the internet, found him in Texas, and sent him an email. I said "This is Andy from Ball State. How are you and your wife, Cindy, doing?" He replied "Well, Cindy left me for another man. However, I remarried, have a child, and life is better now". Mark and I knew each other for over 10 years, but we never discussed God. I replied to Mark that I was sorry about Cindy, and that I would pray for him. I expected him to say thanks. However, I was not prepared for his response.
His email reply was filled with scriptures, praise and thanksgiving for what the Lord had done. I was stunned because I did not realize he was a Christian! I asked him, "What made you decide to become a Christian? I did not receive a reply for a couple of weeks. I wondered if I somehow offended him with my question. On the day when he finally replied, my Bible devotion that day was Psalm 69. When I opened his email, he actually replied immediately, but the email was suspiciously delayed for a couple of weeks. This is what the email said:
"…When my wife left me for another man, I started drinking to escape my pain. I was an atheist and didn't know where else to turn. One night, I lost all hope. I went into the bedroom to kill myself. When I sat on the bed, I noticed the Bible my grandmother gave me on the nightstand. I opened the Bible to Psalm 69. By the time I reached the end of the chapter, the Holy Spirit led me to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. I was seconds away from ending my life, but instead, I found eternal life in Jesus Christ!"
The scriptures that stopped my atheist friend from committing suicide was the same chapter of my devotion on the day of his "delayed" email! When I shared this "coincidence" with Mark, we agreed that God was up to something, but didn't know what.
When Mark shared his testimony, I came to the following 2 conclusions:
Phase 2: Preaching at City Gospel Mission in Cincinnati:
Later In 2002, I started serving meals at City Gospel Mission in Cincinnati, a Christian homeless shelter. In 2004, God gave me a testimony about my diabetes (The Complete 180) to help lead the homeless residents of City Gospel Mission to Christ. After preaching my testimony at City Gospel Mission for 2 years, I preached it to family and friends at my father's funeral in April, 2006.
I preached the Complete 180 at City Gospel Mission until 2011. In May, 2011, my childhood friend, Max Plummer, passed away from diabetic complications. My friend, Rick Brewer, told me that God told him that I needed to "be obedient". It was an obvious statement, but why would God tell Rick to tell me something I already knew?
I was not planning to preach at Max's funeral, but God said to share my diabetic testimony one more time. I cleared it with Dennis Coppock, who was leading the funeral service. Sara Jackson came up to me afterwards and said she was praying for someone to preach the salvation message. I also spoke with Doug Sholty. He designed wrap-around decals for race cars. I told him that I always wanted to make bumper stickers. He explained to me how to make color printing on vinyl.
Phase 3: The Revelation of GodStickers.com:
When I returned to Cincinnati, I told Chuck Richardson that I was going to make bumper stickers for MissingPets.com, which had a video of my testimony. This was how I was going to lead people to Christ. Chuck left the room, and returned 5 minutes later. Chuck told me that he thought I was going in the right general direction, but that God wanted me to do something different. When I got in my prayer closet, I asked God what Chuck was talking about.
God told me that he did want me to make bumper stickers, but he wanted me to put bible verses on them. I told God that was a great idea, and that maybe we could name the website after one of my favorite verses like John 14:6 or Romans 10:9. God told me I was making it too complicated. I was supposed to name the website GodStickers.com. After making stickers for about 6 months, God told me that more people would buy magnets instead of stickers, because they would not scratch the paint on cars.
I've been working in statistics since 1992. I estimated that in a 30 minute one-way commute, approximately 20 people see your bumper at stop lights, drive-thru's and parking lots. When you return home, that is 20 more souls that are exposed to the Gospel. If you drive 300 days per year, that is 12,000 souls exposed to the gospel each year via your bumper. With 330 million souls in the United States, if 30,000 people bought magnets, we could witness to every soul in the United States with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Sincerely, Andy Esche,
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