The Everyday Club Report for August: The Dental Floss Dilemma

How are you doing on your monthly commitment? Fill in your report in the comments section below. Want to join? Scroll to the bottom of the article.

*****

I almost didn’t fulfill my commitment the other night, but God used dental floss to make me do it.

I was ready for bed one late Sunday evening after a movie night at home with my family when suddenly I realized that I had not handed out a single tract all day. My goal is to hand out ten Gospel tracts a day or personally witness to at least one person, but I was just two darned tired and didn’t want to do it. I resigned myself to failure that evening until I realized that my daughter had used up all the dental floss. Well, not all of it; she left about a six inch piece that I wrapped around my chubby fingers and used quite gingerly to pry out stray popcorn kernel pieces out of my teeth.

I was doing quite well, too, until the last molar—that’s when the floss snapped, lodging between my number 17 and 18 molars.!

I tried to work it out with my tongue. I poked my finger in there to try to pry my teeth apart. I sucked loudly on my cheek. I gnashed and grimaced. All to no avail.

The minty flavored waxy string was permanently resting there.

Panicked, I looked in the cupboard, the medicine cabinet, the secret plastic box that sits atop the toilet and even in the second secret box that sits on the first secret box.

Nothing. No extra floss was to be found.

I considered going to sleep in this sad predicament.  No…no… I kept thinking about it, that piece o’ floss snuggled between the second and third molar, laughing, snickering at me.

AUGHHHHH! THIS–IS–BUGGING–ME!!!

I had to go to the drug store to buy some more. There was no other way.

Sleepily, I put on my flip-flops, sucked at my teeth in one final desperate attempt to remove the offending thread, and wearily drove on down to the local Rite Aide.

There he was: a man at the beer cooler, just back from Vegas. I handed him a million dollar bill. “What is it,” he asked, staring at me with his curious blood-shot eyes.

“It’s a million dollar bill,” I replied, “and the million dollar question is on the back: ‘If you died today, would you go to Heaven or to Hell?'”

One personal Gospel conversation. I did it. The moon shone brightly over the palm trees while off in the distance a dog barked. The wind whispered my name. All was right with the world another night.

And that’s the tooth.

*****

The Everyday Club is an opportunity for you to make an evangelistic commitment and report on it twelve times a year. (Minimum commitment: Hand out one tract a day.) I post each report at the beginning of each month and send you an email reminder.) Wanna join? You can sign up by clicking here.

(Photo credit: dave from morguefile.com)

Comments (43)

  1. dede

    Reply

    well, it’s been extremely fruitful for me this month. my opportunities were definately ordained by God. i praise Him everyday for those times that He allows someone to receive a tract or hear His message of ZOE–LIFE!!!

    OA – x1

    1-2-1’s- tons with mostly small groups at a time!
    during 1-2-1’s gave away close to 20+ baskin robbins gift certificates during “are you a good person” test. they all failed the good person test but, i gave them the gift certificate and showed them the example God’s grace.

    tracts- 100+

    press on brothers/sisters,
    dede, aka Jesus Freak

  2. Mary Attwell

    Reply

    Somehow August got busier than I expected.. I was able to witness to afew people and I was able to help out at the Transformed Conference in Anaheim Hills, what a blessing! We went out to witness last Saturday and there were very few travelers at the 5 North Rest Stop, so instead I was able to minster to their phyiscal needs….I will do better this month PRAY!

  3. Reply

    My goal is to hand out at least 10 tracts a day or have at least one daily 1-2-1 conversation and preach in the open air when I can.

    Here’s how I did:

    I may have missed my goal on one day. I handed out tracts on this day but lost track of how many. So…here’s how I did on the other days:

    2140+ tracts handed out.

    48 personal conversations, a lot of them in large groups.

    10 open air sessions

    5 inner air sessions (speaking in church, wedding).

  4. steve martin

    Reply

    So let me get this straight. God gave you a toothache so you would keep your evangelical commitment to Him?

  5. Dale Adams

    Reply

    I had a man come into my office to ask to use the phone and when he left he had heard the gospel and was carrying a million dollar bill. I am currently doing a financial study with our local police department, as I am a former police officer, and at our first meeting I told them ‘all your financial troubles are over’ and handed them all a million dollar Obama bill as an ice breaker.
    I have been handing out at least one per day and sometimes more and placing many within our local stores.
    Thanks Steve for the continued encouragement and example to follow. Dale Adams

  6. Chris Chumita

    Reply

    Sadly, I missed my goal on about ten of those days. I handed out tracts on some of those days that I missed, but not enough to reach my goal. I did open air preach several times.

  7. Reply

    I missed a few days while on vacation in Mexico, between the language difficulties and having my schedule planned by others. Other than that, I was blessed with a great month and have started scheduling “appointments” with church members to go with me. Its a great time of fellowship as we share Christ together and is so much more meaningful than fellowship for its own sake. Still writing stories of my conversations at my website.

  8. Reply

    Missed my goal 4x this month.

    Inner air sessions = 2x
    Open air sessions = 4x
    Crosswalk = 1x
    Tracts = 200+
    1-2-1 = 7
    Prayer Stations = 5x
    Actually had one close call with floss!

  9. JenJen

    Reply

    Handed out over 2000 Gospel tracts. I was in New York City for Repent and Witness so that was easy to hand out that many. I can not think of a day that I did not hand out at least 1 Gospel tract. I open air preached at least 5 days this month. I had too many 1-2-1 conversations this month to count. It was a very blessed month. God has really been changing me. I am very grateful to God for moving me forward.

  10. Bob Johnson

    Reply

    I handed out at least one tract 27 of 31 days, missing only 4 days. I also open air preached 1 day.

  11. Margaret Gill

    Reply

    I just started the Everyday Club several days ago The day after I signed up, Jeanette walked up the house. She was putting flyers on doors. I LOOOOOVE solicitors and keep a tract rack right on my door so I am prepared. Anyway, I was loading up my little guy in the car when she approached. It was a great conversation. She said she was a 7th Day Adventist and had no idea what she would say to God on that day. I took her through the GPT. She understood it but when I asked her when she was going to do that – repent and trust, she said she had been baptized and goes to church. Still did not get it and so we talked a bit more. I left her with a Why Christianity and Are You a Good Person booklet.

    Yesterday I only handed out one tract at the Kid’s Closet convention to the cashier, but my son asked for some MDB’s and left them at a playgroup we were attending for the first time. They had a little mini toy cash register and he put one in it. 🙂

  12. Reply

    I missed a few days in August..

    Tracts handed out – 350+

    Personal witnessing conversations – 12+

    Open-air (new for the August report) – I lost count

  13. Reply

    Well after being really really sick for two weeks, I did not get out to hand as many tracts as I would have liked. However, as my health improved enough I was able to still hand out some tracts at the beginning of the month and the end of the month.
    Now this weekend is Labor day weekend, UT Vol football, and the first friday of the month. All three at once and many opportunity to make up for lost time….
    http://www.tractman.com
    http://www.savorthesavior.wordpress.com

  14. Reply

    Does anyone understand why unbelievers tend to not comment on threads like this”? If Steve’s critics simply had their hearts “hardened” to the things of God, wouldn’t you think they’d be up-in-arms at the idea of tract quotas?

  15. Richard Chavarria

    Reply

    Pass out 10 tracts or one 1-2-1.
    Missed:9 days
    Tracts;1,515
    1-2-1: 26
    OA: 14
    IA:2
    Hearers: 430
    I need less floss

  16. Michelle Halla

    Reply

    I just finished the academy #18 Sunday. No tract with me on Monday. Will try not to let that happen again! I spoke with 3 people at work Tuesday and “practiced” what I learned at the academy on them. I gave a tract away Wed. to a fellow person having minor surgery with me. Will be stuck at home for a few days. Maybe I’ll get visitors!

  17. Reply

    Michelle,

    It was great meeting you at AA #18!

    I didn’t hand out tracts everyday in August, but towards the end of the month, I met several goals. I had been going through great difficulty handing a tract to a person. I literally had to set the goal of handing out JUST ONE tract every day through the end of August and was able to do that.

    tracts =300+
    one on one’s= several usually in groups of 3-4 or more per group
    O.A.- 4 times

    I’m glad I finally pushed through the mud I was stuck in!

  18. Melissa

    Reply

    I have a sad report. I missed 15 out of 31 days. But I will not quit. My goal is to hand out a tract a day, and I ended the month with 121 given away total.

  19. Reply

    This was a very blessed month for us. We’ve been visiting the Newport Beach Pier every Thursday this summer and I finally was bold enough to stand and open air preach. So, today will be another opportunity. The team with me is able to hand out 200+ tracts/hour of preaching to the visitors there. Everyday, God is giving me opportunities to preach Christ to others one-one. We’re leaving tracts at restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations. I’ve had conversations with neighbors, kids, etc. Pray for this school year at UC Irvine. We’ve made a strategic alliance with Christ’s Ambassadors, an on campus student club. Looks like we’ll get to open air preach with amplification on campus during lunch at least as often as once per quarter. Plus, every Tuesday we will on campus to hand out tracts and speak with busy students. Finally, there are about 300 students in on campus Christian clubs that we will be able to influence, teach and train in evangelism. See, I have set an open door before you which no man can shut – Jesus Christ

  20. SeedSowerJoy

    Reply

    Whateverman,

    We don’t really expect comments from unbelievers on this particular thread, since it’s purpose is just for those who have set a GOAL for themselves to make some type of effort every day to evangelize and share the gospel.

    I think we can safely assume those who do not evalgelize will not be reporting their efforts aka submitting their comments.

  21. Thomas Moore

    Reply

    August was a good month. I got a lot of tracts handed out and of course laid out where ever I went. I think the biggest witness opportunity was when I got to talk to a Mormon online. It was and is the first time I have spoken to a Mormon. His name is Victor, please pray for his salvation. I am praying September will be even better in the area of boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    God bless,

    Thomas

  22. Reply

    To Bizzle: I’m unaware what Hawking said, but I assure you, if it conflicts with what God says, he’s dead wrong.

    EDIT: Here’s what I just read:

    LONDON (Reuters) – God did not create the universe and the “Big Bang” was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

    In “The Grand Design,” co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

    “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking writes.

    “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

    Too bad for Mr. Hawking. “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools… (Romans 1:22)

    To Everyone else: Great job in getting the Word out there! Awesome! Don’t quit!

  23. Quasar

    Reply

    I’ve only ever recieved two tracts in my life. One was a simple yellow slip of paper with what I term “generic preaching” all over it, from the Australian Biblical Association. The other was from a guy standing out the front of my university: it was Living Waters very own “The Atheist Test,” complete with the famous “banana argument” for GOD.

    My uni scores were pretty low at that time, which was depressing me, but that tract cheered me up no end. I realised that no matter how stupid I was, I would never be as stupid as christians.

    It was another year before I started debating on the net and came to learn that christians aren’t mentally impaired. Indeed, I have developed great respect for people such as Fred Clark, Ken Miller and Francis Collins since then, and two of those are evangelicals! If I ever become a christian, it’ll be because of people like them: especially the former. But, for all that I now truly respect christianity, the bible and the character of Jesus, I still enjoy laughing at the small subset of christians who convinced me, all those years ago, that all christians were a bunch of deranged, reality-denying nutjobs.

    Congratulations to you all on the very impressive numbers of tracts you’ve been handing out.

    • Reply

      You’re right, of course; but you seemed to imply that I was the one making people live up to their quotas, when, in reality, it’s self-accountability.

  24. BathTub

    Reply

    It’s been ridiculously hilarious watching all the religious people who believe that nothing created God who created everything work themselves in a lather over Hawking’s preview for his book. Ray even put out a press release! You couldn’t ask for better promotion.

  25. Reply

    Agreed. No implication intended.

    Still, if you have time I wish you would please address my question. Why do you think that unbelievers tend to not hover around threads like this? Our hearts are hardened to the things of God, and yet the atheists (et al) here aren’t complaining about your self-imposed goals IRT evangelism, tract handouts, etc.

    Why do you think that is?

  26. Reply

    To Whateverman:

    Still, if you have time I wish you would please address my question. Why do you think that unbelievers tend to not hover around threads like this?

    Obviously, this thread is for those who are completely committed to evangelism. I wouldn’t really expect unbelievers to be in this Club. You are welcome to join when you get born again! I’d love that! 🙂

    Our hearts are hardened to the things of God, and yet the atheists (et al) here aren’t complaining about your self-imposed goals IRT evangelism, tract handouts, etc.

    Why do you think that is?

    I think that it doesn’t really matter if we evangelize or hand out tracts because you and the other unbelievers don’t think it does any good. I’m really hoping to write an article on Tuesday that explains why we do this, what we hope to accomplish, and why, for the most part, we tend not to argue with you guys on the existence of God.

    I do enjoy you all visiting here; you certainly liven up the place! I hope you have a great weekend!

  27. cranium

    Reply

    In the month of August I made 107 comments on ant-choice sites, 83 on godbot sites and 17 on creationist/ID sites. I also made 35 comments on scientific and ant-godbot sites.

    I usually do more but the fundie zones were a little quieter than other months.

  28. Beth

    Reply

    Way to go, Jessica! It took me about 5 yrs of passing out tracts before I even thought of giving OA a try!

    This month’s goal was reached.
    Tracts 1,000+
    OA 11\
    One2ones 20

  29. Theo Pope

    Reply

    Goal is one tract per day handed out. So far the goal has been met since August 29th. Maximum has been 3 in one day.

  30. Reply

    We had an outreach in August, so I handed out over a 100 tracts. I was able to walk over a dozen kids through the 10 Commandments and explain why they are important (Law & Gospel). That was all in one day. I handed out quite a few tracts during the month as well and witnessed to one other person. 🙂

  31. Laurie Griffin

    Reply

    Hey Jeff Reiman, I’m curious to read about your conversations. what is your website?

    p.s. my goal for September is to hand out one tract each day. Missed a few days so far, but went to the zoo and together with my mom and husband we passed out over 100 tracts.

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