Taming the Tiger

Have you ever read or heard a story about an individual, that just some how found its way deep down into the centre of your heart. I’m talking about those stories that keeping playing in and through your head, but also your heart. There is just something special about this story. Something that just toggles the “wow” switch.

The past two weeks I was given the opportunity to organize and execute an out reach event. It was tiring, but it was an experience. What made this event special to our valley, was the international author Tony Anthony. Tony has written a book titled Taming the Tiger which shares in detail, his life story. Tony was a 3 time world kung-fu champion. He held the title for three years simply because he was only in competition kung-fu for three years. He never lost a fight. However, after losing his fiancé in a motor vehicle accident, Tony lost all sense of discipline and began using his “gift” to hurt others. Tony was (and still is) a talented fighter. He was quite capable of killing someone with one kick to the throat.

Tony went through a severe downhill spiral of violence. He just went mad. Killing anyone who got in his way. He describes in his book how he would “smash” an individuals head into the wall and then smear this persons face along the concrete to really cause damage. Tony made sure that when he was going to hurt someone, he did a decent job of it. Tony’s trail of violence finally lead him towards an imprisonment of 3 years. I don’t want to give to away much, but I will share that he gave his life to Christ in prison which lead towards the start of a small church in the prison.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Tony yesterday. We went for a cup of coffee where we discussed the essence behind evangelism. Tony really got me thinking about sharing the gospel. Just how often was I and am I sharing the gospel with others? I felt incredibly challenged by his theology, but still decided to challenge him as I did not agree with every aspect. He stood his ground pretty firmly, which I respect. However, what influenced and impressed me the most was how his theoretical theology became his practical theology. Something I don’t see very often in many of the students at the college I attend.

We were at a coffee shop when Tony saw a group of young teenagers sitting in a group on the side walk. Being the evangelist at heart that he is, he said to me, “Come, lets pay for this. I want to go share the gospel with that group over there.”

Now, that’s where I cringed!

I have a passion for others to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, but I’ve never just gone up to random people to share the gospel with them. Rather I’ve gone ahead and done things such as “revolutionary love” where I didn’t have to get in their face. Well, as nervous as I was, I went along for the experience. The kids hung onto every word he shared with them only realizing at the end that he was sharing the gospel with them. I stood there amazed. We didn’t pray with them because we had a meeting to get to, but as Tony says, “We sowed a seed.”

Now, the question I’ve been trying to answer myself here is, am I truly sharing the message of Christ with others? If so how and why?

If you do, how do you share the message of the Cross with others?