Quote from Forum Archives on June 27, 1999, 6:01 pm

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder With You In The Trenches
As We fight The Good Fight

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #76 ---- 6/28/99

TITLE: "Dushko's Destiny"

My Dear Friend in Ministry:

I trust you are resting and rejoicing in the grace and faithfulness of
our God, being refreshed by His presence and renewed by His power. It is
such an honor to write again and hopefully lift your spirits. Sometimes
my writing feels laborious (your reading of it may as well) and there are
moments when I feel distracted from it to other things.

But, deep within me, there always springs up a sense that, of the
hundreds who receive my note, God may have me share one simple thing that
could make the difference between quitting and going on, between yielding
to discouragement and rebounding to confidence.

So ---- I keep at it, knowing full well that sometimes my letters are,
quite frankly, totally boring to many.

Today, though my body and mind are still weary from both the recent trip
to Croatia and also a week filled with family and ministry
responsibilities, my spirit cries out to encourage you, walk beside you,
and tell you that you can go another mile ---- you've got it in you.

I also am filled with gratitude for the continued faithfulness of our God
concerning the death of Jo Ann's father and all the related events and
pressures. Jo Ann tells me it was certainly a time of celebration and
laughter as the service carried more a tone of happy remembering than of
hopeless sorrow.

And, that's the way it should have been. Elmer was a special man ----
one who had a quiet and self-effacing humor that caused you to chuckle in
amazement long after the moment had passed, and you found yourself
saying, "so that's what he meant."

He was known not only for his dry British-type humor, but also for his
hats and the way he taught lessons. Jo Ann brought one of his many hats
home with her. It now rests atop a small carousel horse next to her
desk; she wears it when she goes out to work with her flowers. Seeing
her wear it reminds me again of Elmer's humor.

Jo Ann's brother, Billy, shared a story about how one day Elmer had
instructed him to hoe the weeds in the yard before the day was over, and
then promptly went off to work at the Post Office.

Billy began faithfully carrying out his task. However, after a couple of
hours, the handle on the hoe broke. Defeated, he quit.

When Elmer got home from work and noticed the work still unfinished, he
listened to Billy's explanation, quietly cut off the jagged end of the
hoe, handed it back to him and said, "Now ---- it's just your size; go
hoe the weeds."

What is so profound about that episode is the hidden truth Elmer taught
Billy ---- "people who think small need small hoes". I have a feeling
Billy learned a significant life lesson that day.

I wonder ---- has God ever had to shorten my hoe handle because I felt I
wasn't up to the job?

DUSHKO:

He was a courteous personable guy ---- short, somewhat paunchy, a
slightly receding hairline with a few remaining dark streaks in his
otherwise gray hair ---- the kind of man you could meet in just about any
community in the world.

He wasn't boisterous, and didn't call attention to himself; yet, my
notice of his presence was unavoidable. I think it was his quiet
attentiveness and seemingly genuine interest that drew my gaze to him so
easily and so often.

Nothing about him was imposing, and yet everything about him got my
attention.

The thing I remember most, however, about this man from Tuzla, Bosnia,
was his totally absorbed interest in what went on in our teaching
sessions. During the singing he would quickly learn the songs and, with
his smiling face lifted skyward, join in with exuberance.

During the teaching times he literally would sit on the very edge of his
seat, arms resting on the chair in front of him, and listen intently to
every word. Occasionally he would slide back into the seat and rest his
chin in the palm of his hand as he mused the things I was sharing.

I thought to myself ---- "this guy has a real heart for God."

I remember the very first conversation we had. It was after our initial
teaching session. His sister, in her futile efforts to translate into
English was finally rescued by Hilda, our translator.

Dushko asked two simple questions you would expect from true seekers ----
questions about 1) if there is only one God, why there are so many
religions, and 2) if God is real and is sovereign, why does He allow
such evil to prevail.

It was then I learned that Dushko was a former communist and is a
professing atheist. His sister and father are believers.

Yet, he was always genuinely inquisitive throughout all my teaching
sessions. He never missed a single service. He sang all the songs, he
searched all the scriptures I would give.

But ---- he did not believe in Jesus.

As the week progressed, I could see his interest intensify and his hunger
become more obvious. Because I used the "brick upon brick" approach to
building my case, when it came time to introduce Jesus Christ in to the
equation as the only means of bridging the gap between a holy God and
sinful man, he was primed.

You could almost hear the click of the switch when the light went on in
his mind, and he saw for perhaps the first time the reality of all I had
been teaching. I thought to myself, "I believe he understands and is
ready to trust Christ."

But he didn't.

However, his entire disposition changed as he continued growing in his
comprehension of God's love, man's sin, and Christ's sacrifice. Our team
was scheduled to have a day off on Saturday to travel to the site of the
start of the war in Croatia back in 1992. However, Jo Ann and I remained
behind.

When Dushko learned that we were going to be there on Saturday, he is the
one who requested that we hold extra unscheduled sessions. We were happy
to oblige.

The final session was on Sunday night. To tie everything together and
cap it all off, we had decided to begin with one of our team members
using the "witness bracelets" with all the colored beads to portray the
elements of God's love, man's sin, Christ's sacrifice, eternal life,
heaven, etc.

Then we would finish it up with a skit based on a very old story of an
older boy who takes the punishment for a younger boy who stole a lunch at
school. When our 6'-7" Chris draped his 260 pound body over our 5'-7"
140 pound David's body, the message became crystal clear ---- to
everyone, including Dushko.

That was the third time that week I saw grown men weep.

I thought to myself ---- "Dushko knows, and I believe he will receive
Christ."

But ---- he didn't.

The last time I saw Dushko was the next morning as he walked down the
steps and out to the big bus to take them all back to Tuzla. After he
had shaken my hand and hugged me at the top of the steps, he again turned
and waved to me, with his thumbs pointed upward, saying in broken
English, "Good bye! Thank you!"

I thought ---- "He did it!"

But ---- he hadn't.

Dushko was on my mind often during our trip through Slovenia, Austria,
and Germany as we traveled home. Even after I learned of Elmer's death
upon our arrival in Munich, and my mind was preoccupied with trying to
get Jo Ann home in time for the funeral, I still thought of Dushko.

I wondered ---- "Has he yet?"

I didn't know.

When I finally arrived at home after seeing Jo Ann off to her father's
funeral, I received a letter from Troy Donahoe, the missionary who had
brought Dushko and all the others.

"Dear Bob. I am so very sorry to have to tell you that, shortly after we
returned to Tuzla, your friend, Dushko, developed some physical problems
and died."

I tried to catch my breath. I read the message again.

I immediately e-mailed Troy again ---- just to see if I was thinking of
the right person.

I was. And he was dead. He was only 50 years old.

I asked Troy about his spiritual condition. Troy didn't know if he ever
accepted Christ. His heart broken sister didn't think he had.

All I could do was hope and pray that, somewhere in the middle of one of
those teaching sessions, or in the quietness of those following moments
of contemplation, Dushko had, in simple child-like faith, reached out to
a loving God and received His offer of forgiveness and eternal life.

Do I think he did?

I don't know. I hope so ---- but I don't know.

All I know is Dushko is dead ---- and maybe I could have done a better
job of sharing Christ with him, and made the opportunity to accept Christ
more specific and available.

LESSONS:

I don't know if this story affects you or not. The experience has
refreshed my mind about several things.

1. Time is totally unpredictable ---- and very short at its very
longest. Make use of it and take advantage of it while you have it.

2. Whatever you're going to do, do it now. There are no guarantees for
future opportunities. Work while it is day, because the night comes ----
and the work will be over, done or not.

3. Make sure there are clear and frequent opportunities for those to
whom you minister to respond to the call of the Holy Spirit. Never leave
a vague or uncertain approach to Jesus ---- make sure the way is simple,
clear, and easy to find.

My friend, no matter what you do in ministry, it needs to include those
three thoughts. It is so easy for us to become distracted by things and
people around us, by expectations of others, by work loads and duties,
that we never get around to the main thing ---- the simplicity that leads
to and is in Christ Jesus.

My prayer is that you never have to face a situation where you have to
settle for wondering about a person's relationship to God.

On the other hand ---- maybe I should pray that you do have that
mind-numbing encounter.

It would probably help you, as it has me, to get priorities back in line
again.

In His Bond of Grace and Mercy,

Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright June, 1999. All rights reserved.

__
/ |
(_/____)
/ ^ ^
{ (O) (O) }
------oOOOo--------U-------oOOOo------

Hang in there! I'm with you!

-------.ooooO--------------- Ooooo--------
( ) /
| | /
(_) (_)

NOW ---- some Post Scripts:

In an effort to minimize the length of my letters to you, I normally
don't take space for "non-essentials". However, I believe the next two
items regarding "Virus Warnings" and also an e-mail offer are worth
reading. If you don't, then just stop reading here, and have a wonderful
day in Christ.

VIRUS WARNING:

As you probably do, I get lots of so called virus warnings, most of which
are hoaxes. However, I've received one recently that I believe to be
valid, and pass on to you.

> All,
>
> Be on the alert for a new e-mail worm. It will appear as a reply to a
> message you sent to someone, but will contain text like the following:
>
> Hi !
>
> I received your email and I shall send you a reply ASAP.
> Till then, take a look at the attached zipped docs.
> Sincerely
>
>
> There will be an attachment called zipped_files.exe. DO NOT TRY TO
OPEN
> IT! That is the worm; it is not a zip file. The worm deletes Word
> document, excel spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, and a few other
> file types and spreads itself to others by sending out a reply to every
> message in your Inbox (if you use Outlook as we do).
>
> This worm has already infected people at Teltech, so take it seriously.

FREE E-MAIL FORWARDING & SPAM FILTER SERVICE:

The manager of my "Shoulder To Shoulder" letter sent the following
message. It may interest you.

"Dear welovegod.org mailing list subscriber,

"welovegod.org is now providing a free forwarding, filtering
email service as a side-benefit for people who currently
subscribe to any of our mailing lists. Once you set up your
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"To sign up for the service or learn more, visit
welovegod.org/nospam/

"Enjoy!

--
"Over 70 Inspirational/Technical E-mail Lists
welovegod.org/lists.html
LinuxPPC Software Mirror site
welovegod.org/linuxppc/rpm2html/index.html"

If this letter has blessed you and you know of someone else who needs to
be encouraged, feel free to forward it in its entirety to all such people
you know.

If you would like a list of past issues which you could receive upon
request, just let us know.

TO SUBSCRIBE, send any message to <[email protected]>.

Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: [email protected]

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