The Delivery

“Would you like to have this magazine?”

I stared at the Awake magazine twenty inches from my face.

Startled, I replied, “no way!” I kept walking and reflected on the encounter. I thought some other shoppers probably will take offense at these two women walking the store aisles like they do when going door-to-door in our neighborhoods.

Someone later suggested to me that I should complain to the store management. That thought also flitted through my mind as I headed to the grocery section. I decided I really did not want to see a sign on the store window saying: “The distribution of literature is prohibited.” After all, I hand out tracts regularly in stores.
Two minutes later, someone stopped me.

“M’aam, which one of these would be better in potato salad?”

I turned around and looked into the smiling dark face of a man in his early sixties. We discussed the merits of regular dill relish or relish with larger chunks.

As I began to leave, he still had a pickle jar in each hand. I offered “The Passage” tract to him and tucked it under his thumb.

“Thank you!“ He beamed, “I know the Lord!”

“Well, then you can share that with someone else,” I suggested.

“I will,” he promised.

I could not help thinking of the contrast of these two encounters. They were close in time and space but they were worlds apart in delivery.

The Sower and His Seed

I learned a lot from Joe Jack Dement. Since the excellent video on the Parable of The Sower, featured in the last post, is only on the web temporarily, I am posting some thoughts I gleaned from this 80-year-old wheat farmer. Jesus explains the seeds and the meaning behind the birds, the footpath, and the other parallels in His parable. Mr. Dement’s knowledge of wheat farming adds to our understanding of the parable.

WHEN and WHERE
Just as the farmer casts the seed away from him, we can drop a little word about Jesus, a Bible verse, or a Scriptural truth as we interact with people every day. For instance, one day last week, I ran errands to five different stores. What normally would be drudgery for me was a joy as I shared a little conversation and tracts with nine people! My perspective was sowing, not shopping, as I went about my work.

WHO
We do not choose who gets to hear God’s message. God wants everyone to hear. God promises His Word will be active in a person’s life, even if we don’t see it. The seed becomes a fruitful plant over time and under the right conditions.

According to Mr. Dement, birds gather around the farmer, waiting for the seed sown on the path. Pray for the people who are not open to God’s Word to retain even a little bit of what you have sown. You do not need to fear that “the enemy” knows you are sowing. Pray for those who need to hear what you have to share with them. They are really the ones under attack!

Shallow soil means the plant will have no resistance and will dry up and die before maturity. To grow in Christ, people need to grow in their knowledge of the Word. As much as you possibly can, help this person get into the Word and into fellowship with believers. Even so, they may still have trouble when their faith hits the bedrock in their soul, so again, prayer is needed.

The seed growing in a weedy area was competing with a huge weed and did not yield fruit. Many people, rich or poor, are worried about their things and other financial concerns. When I share my faith I may even find that the Christians that I meet have not dealt with the weeds in their life and bear very little fruit for God. I suspect a lot of Americans are in the weedy category. Perhaps God will use the current economic woes to bring more people to follow him wholly.

I was very fascinated with the seed planted in good soil. One seed resulted in twelve plants, each with its own head of seed. I could not help but think of Jesus’s twelve disciples with their disciples. Farmer Dement said that 85% is a good, and a typical, yield. What if EACH Christian could leave a legacy of 85 mature Christians who are also telling others about Christ?

WHAT, HOW, and WHY
I named this blog The Sower because I envision that my Christian readers will be encouraged to speak about Christ frequently and everywhere. Thank you for visiting and please come back for more stories and answers to your questions to help you share your faith.

The Disconnect

I was glad and sad when my husband bought a transponder for the van I drive. I liked the convenience of not having to stop to pay tolls, but was saddened that I would not be handing tracts to the toll collectors anymore.

Have you ever thought of the many ways we have been disconnected from the people around us? We swipe a card at the gas pump. We use an ATM instead of chatting with the bank teller. We can do our own checkout now at several stores.

Increasingly, we can do many things without interacting with people. When I have the choice, I’ll choose a person over a machine. If you can, make a choice to interact with people and to plant a thought about God and their relationship with Him.

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 Encouragers

“I already know the Lord,” she smiled and tried to hand the Passage tract back.

Pearl was the third, vibrant Christian I had given a tract to in the past ten days. I said she should keep the tract and share it with someone else. I would much rather have her share Christ with someone I may never meet than get the booklet back! Besides, if any of these Christians need to share their faith, I hope my example may encourage them to start.

Also, last week, Jenny and I stopped in the Wal-Mart hair salon for some shampoo and got into a great conversation with Jorge.

“I have been in a dozen countries on twenty-two missions trips!” he exclaimed. “I wish I could get out of debt so I could be a missionary full-time.”

“Next time you go on a mission trip, your group should take the Jesus film,” I explained. “It’s been translated into over 1,000 languages!”

Jorge had not heard about the Jesus film and was very interested to learn about it. He was willing to start receiving our email newsletters. I hope we can encourage him over time in his desire to be a missionary.

I also gave him some new tracts for women that he could share with the ladies that come into the salon: Beginning Your Journey of Significance and Living a Life of Significance?

Ten minutes later, as we checked out of Wal-Mart, I handed a tract to Vince in the Garden Center.

“Thank you for sharing, Sister,” he remarked.

I was very touched that he encouraged me to “keep on sharing.” We talked only briefly because he had a LONG line of customers. It also encouraged me to see how God has placed His people as His ambassadors in the workplace.

The Olympics

The two young men carried on with their conversation and ignored me, even though I was just three feet away from them.

You’ve been there before, too. You stand in a grocery line and the bagger and the cashier chat with each other while they work. This situation makes it harder to connect with them, but I still try to talk, even briefly, and give them the Gospel in a tract they can read during their break or at home. The natural time in this case is when they are finished working and the cashier asks for my payment.

After I swiped my card and signed, I handed each of them a tract.

“This is for you, if you would like it,” I said. “It’s about Jesus.”

This is the minimum conversation I hold with cashiers, especially when I did not get to chat with them while they worked and when people are waiting behind me.

I did not run off this time, though.

“Did you guys watch the Opening Ceremonies last night?” I asked.

The three of us agreed that the drummers were awesome.

As I left the store, I remembered that the Olympics is a great conversation starter, so I have put some thoughts together on the Sower Tools site on how to use the Olympics to communicate the Gospel to others.

Give God More Room to Work

A white Christmas. Relaxing and playing games with the family. Next week promises to be another wonderful family get-together. I’m looking forward to it, especially since we have had an incredibly busy few weeks preparing for our Christmas celebration. I just have not had the time to post on The Sower this month like I wanted to.

Thank you so much for reading the Sower. Have a great Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior and I look forward to serving you in 2008 as God leads.

I’m doing my last-minute packing and just remembered to pack my tracts for the trip. I used to take ten to twenty, but I take a LOT more now. It’s amazing how many people God brings across my path. On shopping trips and when traveling, I have run out of tracts from time to time.

As Elisha said to the widow in 2 Kings 4, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

The widow obeyed Elijah and “when all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’

“But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.”

The widow showed a lot of faith to collect all those jars in order to fill them with just the little oil she had in her home. So, take more tracts than you think you need and watch how many more opportunities God gives you!

Witnessing to the Extreme

I stood at the foot of a wall of colorful Crocs. A rainbow of foam shoes reached twenty feet high, almost to the ceiling.

“Now, how am I going to be able to try on a pair?” I thought.

Just then, Adam arrived. “May I help you?” he asked.

“I’ve read that Crocs are good for heel pain,” I explained, “and they fit differently than normal shoes.”

“That’s right,” Adam agreed. “Can I get a pair for you to try?”

I pointed to a conservative pearl-colored pair next to the electric-teal-colored ones that I really liked. I mentally pictured Adam ducking into the back room for a pole to reach my shoes, but next thing I knew, he went between the back of the giant shoe rack and the wall behind it and started climbing the rack!

“Well, this shouldn’t surprise me,” I thought, as I looked up at his legs showing through the shoes and then turned to watch young men wakeboarding on an indoor wave behind me. “What else would I expect at an extreme sports store?” I laughed to myself. I was definitely out of my element.

As I tried to decide between two pairs of Crocs, Adam was very helpful and patient while I paced past extreme sports videos and people lining up to ride the wave. Since it took me so long to decide, I had more time to talk with Adam. I gave him the Who is He? mini-CD. (I recommend having these on hand. It’s much more likely that twenty- and thirty-somethings will check out this mini-CD than read a tract.)

As it turned out, Adam was a Christian, so I encouraged him to share the mini-CD with someone and also invited him to The Sower where he can receive weekly encouragement to share his faith.

After I returned to my pacing, a British woman and her young daughter came to try on Crocs. While Adam climbed the back of the rack again, I chatted with the mother a bit.

“Crocs cost thirty pounds back home,” she began. I looked puzzled, so she explained, “That’s sixty dollars.”

I handed her a tract as Adam re-joined us. So, I think God even gave Adam and me a mini-discipleship moment together as Adam watched me finding an opportunity to give a tract to another shopper! This should not have surprised me either since God is the gold-medalist when it comes to extreme witnessing!

Turning Back

I chatted a bit with Mo as I bought salmon at the fresh fish counter. I turned and headed down the aisle to check out. I was not even halfway down the aisle when I sensed God prompting me to go back and give Mo a tract.

I started a few mental arguments.

“I will look silly going back now!” and “This will be awkward!”

God kept up the pressure and I knew before I reached the end of the aisle that I had to turn around. Fortunately, Mo was still at the counter and was not waiting on anyone.

“Excuse me, but I knew I had to come back and offer this to you,” I said, as I held out a tract to him. He smiled and accepted it.

As I remembered this incident today I asked myself: who would I rather risk offending? A stranger or a friend? Or Almighty God, by my disobedience? It is far better for me to be sure I am obedient whenever I hear God’s voice, no matter what He asks. I am sure it must have been better for Mo, too, as God must have had something to say to him that afternoon.

The Collection

I recognized her face and we made eye contact, but Polly’s expression seemed to have “closed door” written all over it. We chatted a bit about my groceries and I discovered she was also lactose intolerant. Polly opened up as we talked about what we can and cannot eat.

“You had better be careful about your bones!” I exclaimed when I learned how little dietary calcium she could eat.

“Don’t worry,” Polly replied, “I have a lot of doctors watching me.”

After presenting my credit card, I handed her a tract. Polly beamed as she accepted it.

“Oh, good! I can add this to my collection you’ve given me.”

“Do you have this one already?” I asked, a little taken aback.

“No.”

I was relieved I had at least given a variety of tracts!

Normally, I pay attention to clerks I may see repeatedly so I don’t keep giving tracts to them. I have no idea what size Polly’s collection is! However, I know her face now and that she hasn’t thrown the tracts away, but seems to enjoy them.

I also know enough about her to pick up our conversation where we left off. I would like to ask her if we can meet for lunch and talk about how she can know the God who watches over her even more than her doctors do.