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Falling on Good Soil
July 7, 2006
Behold the sower went out to sow...and some fell on the good soil and yielded a crop...
We sat at our kitchen table, decorating with crayons and colored pencils the Easter cards my co-worker had designed on her computer. We were both fairly new arrivals to Asia. She had been in the city since January and I had arrived in March. Since we had only been in country for a few months, our language proficency was not up to the level that allowed us to freely share with those around us. We were however, determined not to let language stop us from sharing what Easter meant to us.
So we busied ourselves making cards and carefully slipping tracts inside each card. The tract was covered in question marks and on the front asked the question "Who is Jesus Christ?" Inside the tract was The Story from creation to Christ. In addition to delivering the cards, we had also made plans to throw some "Passion Parties" and watch Gibson's The Passion of the Christ film with many of our friends. We prayed and asked God to transcend all language and literacy barriers. We knew He could cause growth from the smallest seed.
Some of the seed fell on good soil! God faithfully harvested fruit during that month, and we gained two precious new family members. These were the first of whom we prayed would be many. We rejoiced with excitement at the Easter present God had bestowed!
Our latest endeavor with language was to attend a training that would give us the tools (i.e. vocabulary) to actually share The Story from creation to Christ, rather than just hand out the tract that told the story. After spending three intense days learning new vocabulary and putting the stories together in our own words, we returned home excited to see what opportunities God would provide for us to use our new language tools. The language we were able to grasp during the week was truly God at work accomplishing His purposes in any way He chooses. Praise Him for choosing weak vessels!
One afternoon, not long after this intensive language training sesson, we headed down to a friend's shop just beneath our apartment building. We wanted to share Christ with her. Her job is making copies. Occasionally, she has a little free time between customers.
As God would have it, she was free that afternoon. We sat down and began to slowly fumble our way through the most beautiful story that can ever be told in any language. I tried to remind myself that God is bigger than language. His arm is not too short to save, even through using the feeblest of efforts. As we finished I glanced up at our friend somewhat apologetically.
"Yao, bu yao?" (translated: Do you want to do this?), we asked. Her dark eyes shined as she smiled and without hesitation said, "Yao" (translated: I want). Even as our hearts soared, we looked at one another a little stunned. That was it? Yes?
She ran over to her cabinet and found the Easter card we had given her in April. She pulled out one of the tracts we had so carefully tucked into each card. I noticed that the questions marks on the front had all been filled in with bright colors. We prayed with her, using that same tract as reference. After sitting there a few moments, my co-worker and I, overcome with curiosity, asked, "When did you pray this prayer?" She pointed to the tract. She had prayed after we had given her the card at Easter! The seed sown in April had fallen on good soil and yielded a crop we didn't even know about! Sitting before us was a brand new sister, an Easter present in May!
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