The Message in the Writing

“Here’s $5.05 for your $2.02.” I handed the optician my money with a bemused smile.

“And here’s $3.03 for your $5.05,” he replied as he handed me my change.

We were both amused with how the money came out. I was still smiling as I offered him a tract, Would You Like To Know God Personally.

“I already know the Lord,” he said as he handed it back to me. “Please give this to someone else.”

“Here is something for you, then.” I took the tract from him and offered 4 Laws – Discovering God in Chinese Characters to him. “This tells how God preserved the message of Genesis in the Chinese language.”

“Thank you!” Keith was intrigued. “My boys love Japanese. I think they will like this!”

When I share my faith, if the person turns out to be a Christian, I still see this as an opportunity to share my faith to encourage or equip another believer. (See related stories on sharing your faith with Christians and another related story: What I keep in my purse)

Also, next time I use this tract, I plan to suggest a search on “Chinese characters” at Answers in Genesis if they would like to read more about the hidden message in ancient Chinese characters.

The Right Tract at the Right Time

I was waiting my turn as the clerk answered questions for the man in front of me. I was half-listening and began to check my purse for tracts.

Nuts! I thought. I had not re-stocked my purse and only had Spanish Four Laws.

“Where are you from?” the clerk asked his customer.

“Mexico,” he replied.

As the man finished his purchase, I welcomed him to our country and he accepted a tract from me. Like many non-English-speaking people I meet, he was pleased to get a booklet in his own language.

I was amused that God made sure I had the right tract even when I thought I didn’t!

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Too Much of a Good Thing

The clerk watched me rummaging through my purse. I had already paid and should have been walking away. I was pawing through more than seven varieties of tracts trying to find the right one. The minute this took to do was agonizingly long.

This is awkward, I thought, as I finally handed her a little green booklet. I went home and removed some of the tracts.

Normally, I chat a little while a clerk is ringing up my purchase. I also try to use their name or at least read their name badge. I get my tract out while they work so I have it ready to give right after I pay.

“This is for you, Curt, if you would like it,” I often say. “It is about Jesus.”

If no one is in line behind me, I sometimes talk longer. (I would appreciate prayer that I would do this more often.)

The basic booklets I keep with me are also different colors and, therefore, easy to identify and pull out. I have green Would You Like To Know God Personally, blue Satisfied?, yellow The Four Laws in Spanish, and black The Passage.

I use the green and blue booklets because I think the question on the cover would draw the person in to read the tract. Also, several times when I used to have the original yellow English Four Spiritual Laws in my purse, I would discover in the checkout line that all my booklets were in Spanish! But even that is another story… for next time.

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Prayer “Only”?

Eduardo and Luz barely speak English. Eduardo can communicate enough to understand the basics, but Luz relies on her native Spanish.

I prayed for them this morning. We have been neighbors for more than a decade, and unlike our other neighbors, we have had very little contact with them. (I made one BIG contact with them when I backed into their car a few years ago!) Hopefully, our limited interactions have left a good impression (and despite the impression I made on their car!)

I thought this morning that prayer is not enough, but right away I remembered that prayer is my most important tool to use in the Harvest. Because only God speaks to people’s hearts, I want to be sure HE is speaking through me.

Prayer may be the ONLY way to reach some people:
• Your favorite athlete, musician, or actor
• A person in the news or a community caught in a tragedy
• The dictator and his officials on the other side of the world
• A village on the backside of nowhere without a single Scripture in their language

Prayer is available to every Christian, young and old. A believer may be recently re-born or a seasoned saint; a Christian may be handicapped or bed-ridden, but she can pray to our limitless God for others.

Prayer is also available anywhere. Anytime. At a moment’s notice.

Eduardo and Luz are Jehovah Witnesses. They host a weekly study group at their home. After praying for them today, I’ve decided to give them a “Jesus” DVD in Spanish.

Prayer for people will probably lead you to do something, too.

More about Eduardo and Luz.

More help for reaching Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Reaching East and West in One Day

“Beinvenue aux Etats-Unis,” I smiled.

Someone treated us to a night at EPCOT for dinner for our anniversary last year. Our waiter that night was Oliver from Paris. Unfortunately, my French is more than rusty, but I did manage to say “Welcome to the United States” (a handy little phrase I’ve used over the years.). I also wrote out and gave him some suggested destinations since he mentioned he wanted to see the USA before returning home.

At the end of dinner I also handed him the French “Four Laws.” I pointed out the Paris address on the back.

“This is right near my home!” he exclaimed. He also said his brother would be very interested in the booklet.

Earlier, as soon as Mike and I had walked into EPCOT, two Japanese students walked up to us and asked us to take a picture. Afterwards, I handed them a Japanese “Four Laws.” They were very excited and pleased to get it. The girl was here in the States studying at a Catholic university.

Whenever I get an opportunity to go to any tourist attraction, I take some foreign language “Four Laws” tracts. God made sure I had the right tracts that day!

If you don’t have access to foreign language tracts, you could make a business card or a label for the back of your tracts with links to foreign language sites or to the “Jesus film” in their language.

You can almost guarantee they will be curious enough to check out the innovative and affordable Who is He? Mini-CD if you carry these with you. This little CD-ROM has a Gospel presentation in 27 languages, an entire Bible, and more!

The New Friend

“This is for you,” I said as I handed Elizabeth a Spanish Four Laws.

I was researching a deposit with our bank’s head teller and had noticed her cross necklace and the large fish symbol on her key chain.

“Thank you,” she said, as she glanced into the booklet

“What would you say if you were at the gates of Heaven and God asked you why He should let you in?” I queried.

I can’t remember her answer exactly, but as with most Catholics, I then explained about the thief on the cross who could not do any good works before he died.

After a few minutes’ conversation, I was pretty confident Elizabeth was a believer. She was looking at the tract again.

“You can share that with someone else if you like,” I offered.

“No, this is for me,” she quickly replied. “I had a bad week.” She stepped away from the front desk and began reading the booklet in the foyer.

That was last week. Yesterday, I had to go back to the bank. Elizabeth was at her usual place in the front, greeting customers. When I stepped in the door, she greeted me warmly.

“Hello!” She beamed and introduced me to a young man she was talking to. “This is Guillermo,” she said to me and then she introduced me to Guillermo, “This is my friend.”

“How are you, today?” I asked Elizabeth. She knew I was referring to our last conversation. “Can I pray for you?”

She was doing well and was glad for my prayers. In that setting, she was unwilling to share what her needs were. She indicated, though, that God knew her needs and she would tell me “next time.”

I was quite honored to be labeled a friend for the small amount of concern I had shown. (I think, also, she probably did not know my name at that moment.)

Just showing an interest in others, even if it is just enough to talk with them, can show them the love of Christ

Are you chatting with tellers, waitresses, sales clerks, and others? Add a comment here on the site or drop me an e-mail. I’d love to know how it is going for you as a sower in God’s harvest.

A Divine Appointment

“This trail is familiar,” Mike said.

We all agreed. Even though we have only taken our kids to the Smokey Mountain National Park three times, each time we ended up taking the exact same trail! We had wanted to explore a new area, but God had a reason for our collective forgetfulness.
After some time, we noticed a knot of hikers halted on the trail ahead, pointing into the woods and taking pictures. Soon, we saw them, too, a mother black bear and her two cubs.

We were about to join the group and as we approached the family on our end, their little girl asked, “Is it a panda, Mommy?”

“Are you from China?” I asked.

They were and I was able to hand them a Chinese Four Spiritual Laws. They were as amazed as we were! God arranged for us to be on that trail, for me to have a Chinese tract, and for them to travel halfway around the world to meet us on a remote trail in Tennessee!

Surrounded by the beauty of God’s handiwork, the trees, the bears, and eventually, the waterfall, did not compare to the thrill of seeing His hand touching this little family with the Good News of His love and forgiveness!

The Lord often brings us together with individuals by design. We might view these as chance encounters, but they are “divine appointments.”

Turn it off, please!

“You wrote a check to Campus Crusade!” Jorge turned his head toward me and beamed.

I was sitting across the desk from our bank manager who was looking at our checking account on his computer. I was not sure why he reacted that way. It turns out he really did not know anything about Campus Crusade. I explained a bit to him about Campus Crusade for Christ and that my husband and I are missionaries. I pulled out the Spanish Four Laws for him. I had talked to this manager before and both times I believed he was a Christian.

I suddenly thought, well, if he is a Christian, maybe he would be interested in showing the “Jesus” film on his TV? (Ours is the only bank I know that has a television mounted next to the tellers so the customers have something to watch. Yes, the lines can get that long!)

I explained about the “Jesus” film and suggested that it might be a good DVD for his bank. He went into a long reply about how the “powers that be” which are over him would not allow it and how the bank would not want to offend anyone.

Later, I thought how I already had been offended by the bedroom scene on the TV while I was waiting in line. In other situations where a TV was showing inappropriate material, I have asked for the channel to be changed (or the TV turned off) at an auto shop, our doctor’s office, and the fitness center.

It’s not just about me, either. I was also thinking about the young man who walked in on the very bawdy “lingerie fashion show” showing on the auto shop TV or the young children playing on the floor under the suspended television at the doctor’s office. I was definitely thinking about my eighteen-year-old son when we were at the fitness center and one of the TV dramas depicted a rape scene.

I politely asked for a manager and explained what was offensive on the television. Everyone very gladly changed the channel for me. Most did not want that content either and were unaware that a customer or someone had changed stations. Of course, you can use the opportunity to bring up spiritual issues with the people involved.

Painting the Hall and Reaching Estonia

“This is not convenient,” I thought and hoped my body language did not communicate the same message.

I was stirring a can of paint in the garage. My skin and clothes were spattered with fresh yellow streaks and drips. A young college student came up the driveway with a satchel, a smile, and a light European accent.

Malle, I discovered, was from Estonia. Someone had convinced her she could go door-to-door in the blistering Florida summers and sell educational encyclopedias for a summer job.

I had to run back into the house a few times as I was helping my kids paint the hall and they were waiting for me to bring in some more paint. On my first trip back in the house, I clicked on the internet and went to find The Four Spiritual Laws in Estonian. I clicked “print” and went back out where Malle was waiting.

After a little more conversation, I went back in and printed the web site for the Jesus Film in Estonian and gathered up the Estonian Four Laws. I was on the same page with God by now and eager to see where our conversation would lead.

I handed Malle the Gospel in her own language.

“People have given me many things to read. . . The Guard Tower?”

“The Watch Tower,” I nodded. “You will not want to read that.”

“All the others were in English,” she said, staring at the papers I had printed. “This is amazing that this is in my language!”

I then handed her a printout showing where she could watch the Jesus film in her language, too.

“I saw that movie in Norway,” she said as she pointed to the picture of Christ from the film. “It was too bloody.”

“Oh, you mean The Passion. This is a different movie,” I explained.

We found out we had more in common. I had been to Norway, too, so I learned about her time there as an exchange student. I also assured her that what I was telling her was not going against her Lutheran background and shared how I had wondered the same thing years ago.

I wrote my e-mail address on one of the pages and offered that she could write me with any questions.

“I will be very busy until I am back in school in September,” she explained.

Please pray for Malle to correspond with me and for her to receive Christ.

How Long Will The Door Be Open?

“Cops!” Carmen exclaimed. “I jest transferred from a deferent store. They deed not have cops there.” She shook her head and kept staring across the parking lot at a police car.

“Well,” I replied, “a liquor store can attract trouble.”

If I’m available to God, I accept help with my grocery cart so I have a few minutes to talk with the “bagger.” It helped that Carmen was chatty, even if her English was hard to understand.

After my groceries were loaded in the car, I handed her a Spanish Four Laws and pointed out the Da Vinci Code web site I had printed on a label on the back (see blog entry for DaVinci DiLemma).

“I weel ask my seester to look eet up,” Carmen explained. “I do not have a computer.”

People have been interested when I point out the Da Vinci Code website, but the door may be closing. The hype ended abruptly with opening weekend and the “next thing” to grab our national attention will be knocking at the door soon. With that in mind, I grabbed four Da Vinci Code mini-magazines, before heading for the library after lunch.

Now, the mini-magazines are not as “mini” as a tract, but I knew librarians would be easy people to distribute the Da Vinci Code material to. I should have had more magazines with me! I ended up talking with six people yesterday. One librarian and I talked for a long time and I invited him to visit Campus Crusade’s headquarters and take the “Jesus” film tour. He was very interested.