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The following is a weekly blog of my missions experience and my take away from what I feel God has shown me this week.
1 Samuel 16:7 The Lord said Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
I remember when I got out of the army and was looking for my first real job. I read the book ‘Dress for Success’, It said ‘You only have one chance to make a good first impression’. So, I went out and bought a loud red tie, a sparkling white shirt, black wingtips that I spit shined, (army black socks worked but not the plastic black ‘class A’ shoes) and a dark blue suit. I was young, in extremely good shape with a full head of hair and batted a thousand on job interviews.
Everywhere I went, the interviewers wanted to hire me. So, based on that, I decided to get into car sales, where first impressions meant everything and no follow through required (or so I thought). At first I made more money than I dreamt possible. People buy looks and zeal and energy and most importantly, good first impressions. People bought from me because they liked me, but I was horrible at taking care of them after the sale. My heart wasn’t right. I was a heathen. Once I sold them a car I forgot about them
When I saw my old customers coming back and ignoring me when it was time to buy another car, I soon realized that there was a need for following up if I wanted to stay on the top by keeping old customers. So I changed, and took care of my customers after the sale as well. Had nothing to do with my corrupt heart, it had to do with greed. Once I figured out how to take care of customers after the sale I got to the point of selling 30-60 cars a month, with all repeat customers and referrals. No fresh customers. I was Pohanka’s salesman of the month for 36 consecutive months because of that small change (until I was demoted to management haha).
The missive for today is, ‘We get only one chance to make a good first impression’. People saw my suit, and energy, and assumed I was trustworthy. Most people think that if you make a good impression you are trustworthy. Worldly salesmen know that and take advantage of that fact. You don’t have to be saved to prescribe to that line of thinking. Normal people understand the importance of a good first impression but often Christians seem to forget. They’ll argue angrily with a complete stranger over absolutely nothing, ruining any chance of evangelizing them in the future. Even the worldly know the importance of follow up after the first impression as well. Again, lots of Christians don’t. I have seen people invite someone to church and completely ignore them when the newly invited finally came. People go by looks, God goes by the heart. Look at Saul when he was elected as the first king of Israel.
1 Samuel 10:23 And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
Saul was big and strong and handsome. The perfect candidate. He was a good soldier. A good leader. Based on his good first impression, he was the best man for the job, from the worldly stand point of nation Israel. There was no mention of his heart though. And you’ll see that a bad character (heart, follow through) ruined him down the road. Just strength, size and looks, but no character.
Looks is not what makes good first impressions with God, nor someone looking for something at a spiritual perspective. Unbelievers are extremely self righteous and ‘holier than thou’, although that’s the first thing they accuse believers of. First impressions only get someone so far before character and morals come into play. If you aren’t a strong Christian (heart and follow-through) you can get side railed quickly. And non-believers gleefully point that out.
1 Sam 18:8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?
The point I am making is that we get only one shot at making a good first impression. And then we are obliged to follow through to a lost person. People are always looking for a sign. They want to see something outstanding. Supernatural. It doesn’t matter very much how you look. What matters is how you reflect Jesus with your actions and mood, especially during problems and drama. When I have teams down here I tell them ‘if you are cranky, don’t go with us to minister in the streets. Please, just stay here, help in the kitchen, or better yet, stay in your rooms’.
Heathens are looking for that excuse to believe. A sour puss sometimes is all the ammo they need to ‘dis’ the whole event, Jesus and all of Christianity in the process. One snippy, sacastic, snide condescending grouch is enough of a reason someone to not believe and to spend eternity in hell.
I had a morbidly obese hispanic friend from East L.A. named Tiny. He was a bitter, bi-polar, sexually abused, man in his early 30’s. Tiny had one foot in the grave another on a banana peel. During the covid scare when everyone in the states was under house arrest, I finally got him to come on to a zoom Bible study. The zoom consisted of a bunch of homies, ex-gang bangers etc who had turned into Christians. Still rough around the edges though. Right when Tiny finally got on the line one of the Christian guys on the zoom said a swear word. ‘CLICK’ There went the ‘One Chance’ to make a good first impression. Tiny, more than anyone, needed fellowship. He was so big he was basically home bound. Tiny hung up, and disappeared from my life, forever. Pray for Tiny.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers
If our hearts are right, our wording will be careful. Our facial expressions will be less angry. We will keep the main thing the main thing (Jesus) instead of arguing over something as worthless as 10 cents over charge, or politics. There’ll be a joyful bounce to our step even when the world is crashing in around us. There will be a song in our hearts even when we are in trials and tribulations. We’ll have the Greek word for peace, ‘Eirene’ that is a perpetual state of a peaceful mind instead of the Hebrew word ‘shalom’ peace that has to do with outward circumstances such as no war, no sickness.
But God told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the LORD looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, GWT).
Maybe we as Christians may not be pretty, or dressed nicely, but how we treat others is often a great first impression. (IF WE ARE SAVED). It shows our heart. We get one chance to make a favorable first impression.
As a Sr. Pastor for Calvary Chapel I had the opportunity to hang around a little with some pretty big names both in ministry and in praise and worship bands. Skip Heitzig, Mike Macintosh Chuck Smith, Arturo-Jose Luis The Gutierez Brothers, Adriann Rogers, John MacArthur, Danny Lehman, Nicky Cruz, Phil Agilar, Loren Cunningham, Dennis Agajanian, Franklin Graham, Jon Courson Allen Rigg, Malcolm Wild etc, all gentlemen, all the time, all above reproach. But some other big named preachers and recording artists were so rude and petty that they made me want to crawl under a rock and hide. They looked pretty but their hearts weren’t right at the time I knew them.
‘People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care’ …. Chuck Smith
When I tell people I’m saved, they look deep into my eyes sometimes, searching. I prayed for a man once and he was looking over my head for angels or something. When you step out and say ‘I believe!’ People look at you differently. They half want to say ‘wow, Jesus is real’ and half want to say ‘ I knew it!! Y’all are a bunch of phonies.”
You are being watched when you say you are a Christian. If you have a bumper sticker on your car be nice in traffic. If you have a Jesus tee-shirt on, let the older person have your seat on the bus, push in front of you in a line, be nice to the cashier. If you go to a restaurant after church, please have to common sense to be polite, undemanding and leave an enormous tip to the poor waitress. Especially if you want to be seen by everyone with a long prayer before you eat.
‘The hardest thing for an unbeliever to believe, is to hear someone say that the Creator of the Universe lives inside of them, and they just continue to exists and go on like everyone else’. DC Talk
I am not perfect. I have behaved pretty badly at times. Sometimes with a justified motive, more often, not. But it doesn’t matter The worst part is, after giving someone a piece of your mind, you meet them later and they are told that you are a Christian. You see a quizzical look on their face. Talk about wanting to crawl under a rock!! 

I think that is the best thing about being a Christian missionary. You are never knowing when we are being watched, never knowing when your are held accountable for all your lip service. (All born again believers are actually missionaries, wherever you are, did you realize that?) But as a Christian missionary in a small town like Managua, everyone knows you’re a believer. You soon realize that you don’t have the right to walk around like everyone else, you are an Ambassador of the Lord God Most High! You are held to a higher standard. You do not have the luxury of being normal grumpy Joe Schmoe. People don’t come up to you and say ‘hey, I recognize you, you’re that Christian guy!!’ They won’t give you a heads up. They’ll silently watch you, waiting anxiously for that one chance for you to make a good, supernatural first impression,,,,, or not. The world wants desperately to see True, Supernatural Believers. Most people don’t read Bibles, they read us. The problem is that they will only give us ‘One Chance’.
2 Corinthians 3:2 NIV You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Other ETERNALLY IMPACTING ‘one chance´s’ we may miss
ONE CHANCE (ONE LIFE) go to heaven
ONE CHANCE open the door to an unknown person
ONE CHANCE to take the higher ground
ONE CHANCE to go to that thing you dont want to go to
ONE CHANCE to let someone introduce you
ONE CHANCE to protect other’s feelings
ONE CHANCE to give a soft reply
ONE CHANCE to go the extra mile
ONE CHANCE to forgive and forget
ONE CHANCE to turn the other cheek
ONE CHANCE to be a doormatONE CHANCE to take that thought captive
ONE CHANCE to do the right thing at the right time
ONE CHANCE to be somone’s hero
ONE CHANCE to make the right decision
ONE CHANCE to change your destiny
One Chance
www.PureHeartChildrensFund.org
We are now collecting for Christmas presents. Contact Tiffanie and Steve Hansen like last year. Here’s a video of us giving out the Christmas presents last year. 1756 presents last year, and no sign of slowing down! God is so good, I love Him and I love you! Thank you!! https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFsjTTGc/
Love Dean and Winnie