Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Planting seeds

If you do not have a relationship with God's one and only Son, Jesus Christ you may not understand the nature of this blog today. That is not a knock on you as a reader or as a person it simply means that it may be difficult for you to understand how much some things mean to the person that has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

This past Sunday, shortly after the service began, a man came in and sat down in the Pew behind me.  I always, as pastor, sit in the front pew and it is generally not common for a visitor to sit so close to the front.  Often they want to sit unnoticed in the back and it gives them the opportunity if need be to duck out early.  I turned around and smiled and instinctively put out my hand for a shake.  He shook my hand and said, "Hi Jeff."  Now its possible that he could have simply looked at my profile on the churches web page and was messing with me.  I thought also that because we are having my class reunion this next week that he was some long forgotten class mate.  As it turns out it was one of my good friends with whom I was stationed with in Texas when I was in the Airforce. We had  not spoken since 1982.  I was thrilled and blessed when he finally told me who he was. It is amazing how the years just melt away and you pick up right where you left off.

Over lunch we had conversations about others with whom we had served.  At one point he asked me if I remembered Sarah (not her real name). I did and he proceeded to tell me that she had passed away. I remarked something to the effect of that's a shame and we went on to other conversational topics.

I did however remember Sarah very well.  She was a spunky little blonde from California who weighed by my guess 85 pounds dripping wet.  We liked her, but did not like working with her.  Her diminutive size, as we soon found out, kept her from being able to do some of the heavy lifting required for the job. It wasn't her fault.  She had been caught up in the bureaucratic wave of government equality that says she can do the job despite her physical limitations. She did not ask, like any of us, to be in that particular career field, but had been assigned by whoever makes those decisions at some higher level within the military.

But what I remember most about her is a conversation we had on the flightline one afternoon pobably in 1981.  It was late March and was quite pleasant in Texas.  Myself and my good friend Randy (not the friend that came to church - this was a different person) and her were repairing and aircraft and as some of the tasks are tedious, but mindless it always left time for conversing.

She initiated the conversation by saying something like this, "Hey, you guys are church guys right? So, like what is the big deal about Easter?"

That was an interesting question to be sure and so one of us asked her what she knew about Easter.  Her response was about the Easter bunny and baskets and chocolate and jelly beans.  We then said something to the effect, "But don't you know about Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting three days later? I mean you must of learned that in church."

Her response left me in awe and bewilderment. "I really don't know anything about Jesus or any of that stuff.  I've never actually been to a church. My parents were not religious and we never discussed it."

Wow, this was the first person I had ever met (I grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania) that had never ever been to church. I later, in my mind, would chalk this up to the liberal nature of the west coast and for years saw this as an anomaly as opposed to what is now a norm. And so we told her about Jesus. We told her how He came to earth as the perfect sacrifice to pay the price for our sin. How he willingly chose death on the cross, that he died was buried and rose again on the third day.

I would like to tell you that Sarah knelt over her tool box on her knees and right there made a commitment to Jesus.  I remember we invited her to church with us but she did not come.  Eventually the days and the months went by and the conversation was somewhat forgotten. I was discharged, moved back to Pennsylvania and except for me relating the story of the first person I met that knew nothing about Jesus she was pretty much forgotten.

The visit from my friend and curiosity got the best of me and when I got home, I did what we always do these days I googled her name followed the the word "obituary."  Immediately her name came up and there even was a picture of her so I absolutely knew it was her. I did not know what to expect but was absolutely amazed when the first line of her obituary printed in bold caps said, "SARAH WAS PASSIONATELY IN LOVE WITH JESUS CHRIST." It then proceeded to tell how she loved to work at her church and would be so missed by those she sang with in the choir.

I will admit that I never anticipated this. It truly brought tears of joy to my eyes. But I believe most of all it taught me an important lesson.  The lesson is that we are to plant seeds of the gospel wherever we go. Jesus gave his followers what is known as the Great Commission, which in my paraphrase simply says, "Wherever you go, make followers of Jesus" and let God worry about the results.  I cannot tell you that my conversation that day had any direct bearing on her becoming a Christ follower.  But I do recognize that the seeds of the good news of Jesus were planted. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV) "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."

Sometimes for those that follow Jesus Christ, sharing with others can be a lonely and discouraging place.  So often especially today there is animosity toward anything having to do with God or the Bible. But Jesus warned us of this "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (John 15:18).  Learning of Sarah's ultimate fate also taught me a lesson about never giving up and never being discouraged.  We simply need to do what God has called every follower of Jesus to do and that is to plant the seeds of the Good News, wherever that may be.

For more information on how to be a follower of Jesus go to www.lifepointealliance.org.

Pastor Jeff

If you live in the Pittsburgh area join us for worship at 11:00 AM Sunday Morning. LifePointe Alliance, 2298 Rochester Road, Pittsburgh PA 15237




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