A very good friend of mine recently tried to help me promote my book, Miracle on Luckie Street. We worked like the dickens for three months and I was interviewed on numerous television and radio shows and did some public speaking because of his efforts.
After all was said and done we sold a nominal amount of books and unfortunately the cost of the promotion far exceeded the revenue from the sale of them. Regrettably it has become unaffordable and we simply do not have a large enough budget to continue the program and have decided to conclude it in a couple of more weeks.
I say regrettably because my wife, (with tears in her eyes), just recently handed me a letter from someone who heard about my book through our program and ended up reading it and decided not to commit suicide because of doing so. The lady was distraught to no end over many terrible issues going on in her life, but after reading of how I overcame the stark adversity in my life through the strength provided by Jesus Christ, she found the hope that was missing in her life and changed her mind about desiring to take her own life and just end it all.
Coincidentally when discussing ending the project with my buddy, I had just told him not to be discouraged because we didn’t knock it out of the park with this project and sell a jillion books. I told him that I felt sure that when we get to heaven someone will come up and shake hands and tell us thanks for caring enough to make an effort to plant the seed that flourished in their life that helped them to make the right decision to follow Christ.
Yesterday I had lunch with a local football coach who enjoyed tremendous success last year in winning the state championship in their division. Now doing that in the number one football state in the United States, (Florida), is a super achievement, but he seemed most proud of the fact that every member on his team has professed faith in Jesus and have formed an independent team Bible study/prayer group.
One would think that all was well with this coach in his home community after his bringing that coveted trophy home; however recently he very nearly left his position because of pressure from a few snarky politically correct individuals within the community over his putting too much emphasis on promoting the importance of having a solid spiritual foundation to his team. Most of his players come from very poor, deplorable home situations and don’t have a dad at home, and he has become a surrogate father to them and he tries his utmost to treat them like his own children. Like any father who loves his kids he was determined to teach them to follow Christ first and teach them football skills second to that.
After months of his being hammered at meetings and fighting it out with them, he finally got frustrated with all of the yammering and criticism going on and decided to take a position with another school and forget about it. As he was working out his notice, one of his players came to him and told him how much his being that father figure in his life has meant to him, and how he didn’t think he could have made it without his doing so. He told him that he probably would have just ended up in prison like so many others in this community.
Through that conversation, God opened his eyes, (and flooded them with tears), to the significance of his efforts and the good he was doing in that poor community with these young men whose only real chance in rising above their unfortunate family life circumstance probably lies in his football program.
Praise God he changed his mind about leaving.
I remarked that sometimes we just don’t realize the power of planting seeds. The young man he told me about just happens to be the star quarterback. He has developed a deep faith in Christ which will no doubt dramatically and positively impact the rest of his life, but it will not just affect this young man’s life; he will have a positive effect on his other teammates, his family, friends, and his own children for many years and decades to come.
Spreading the Gospel is an exponential endeavor with a compounding factor of a magnitude that we cannot fully comprehend.
We finally got some sorely needed rain from tropical storm Beryl and yesterday I rode through Honey Lake to survey that wonderful rain’s effect on our crops. I thought to myself that it won’t be long before I’ll be looking at ripe corn and beans and will be reaping a nice harvest. I also looked at some of the pine trees that I had planted this year. I couldn’t help but envision what they would look like in another twenty or thirty years. I mused that I will be long gone “toe up and iced down and pushing up daisies” by the time those little trees are harvested, but nonetheless my sons and grandsons will see them flourish and harvest them at the appropriate time.
I smiled at that thought.
I think planting seeds for the Lord is similar in that we cannot always, or maybe ever, see the results of our efforts, but just the same our work is not for naught. (You like that expression?)
Sow some seeds today; some of it will land on fertile soil and take root; other servants of God will water it; and God will make it grow and soon enough young eagles shall spread their wings and take flight…
See what a great work you can start today…
1 Cor. 3:6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.