witnessing

I’m A Banana!

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banana[1]We all know that Hollywood cannot dream up anything sometimes that compares to the actual situations we find ourselves (or others) in real life.  Saturday was one of those experiences.  Mom, Robert & I went to Valdosta, our closest Hobby Lobby town, to celebrate her birthday and get craft supplies that Robert and I both needed.  Robert went to his section, and Mom and I browsed our way through the front aisles on the way to mine (yarn).  We were looking at cards on the end of the aisle, when out of nowhere a young guy, definitely a teenager, came up to us and said, in a very normal voice, “I’m a banana” and stood there waiting for our reply.

Stunned, I replied, “Good for you!” thinking that maybe he was with a youth group of some sort, on a scavenger hunt or other weird game.  He walked away, and came right back less than a minute later and said, “I’m a banana”.  We brushed him off, and walked into the interior of the aisle, and he promptly went around the corner, then came back again at us and said, “I’m a banana”.  At this point he was about to be a banana split, because I was getting annoyed and Mom was getting very worried.  Right before I snapped back at him, an older man, possibly a youth leader or his father (I thought) said, “Do you have a wedding album at home?”  I stuttered out “yes”, he left, and the young guy ONE MORE TIME appeared and said, “I’m a banana”  Torn between yelling for security and leaving, Mom and I went off at a fast clip down a completely different aisle and we never saw either of them again.

We were weirded out, to say the least!  For the life of us, we couldn’t figure out what he meant, why he was there, or what he was trying to accomplish!  All we knew was that he thought he was a banana!  We caught up with Robert (thank heaven!) paid up and left.  When we got home, we told him about the incident and he was equally mystified and confused.

Of course, that night as I laid in bed reviewing that encounter, God showed me that sometimes Christians can be just like that guy, and we might just be confusing and weirding out people that we really want to reach with the Gospel.  I was recently asked why I don’t drink by someone who I knew did.  I replied, “I’m a Christian”.  Then they asked what that meant, and I unfortunately said, “As a Christian I don’t believe in drinking”.  Now, because that person has other Christian friends who do, I am not sure I made any more sense than my “banana” guy.  And we all do that.  We can unknowingly use “I’m a Christian” as a pat answer to all life’s problems, and expect people to know what that means.  “Do you believe in abortion?”  “No, I’m a  Christian”.  “Do you believe its ok to sleep together before marriage?”  “No, I’m a Christian”.  “Do you ever pad your expense report?” “No, I’m a Christian”.

You see the point?  Sometimes we take the SO easy way out, and don’t bother to explain, or witness, or offer Scripture to support what we believe.  We just say, “I’m a Christian” and let it go at that.  I allowed God to convict me of that, and I am determined now to ALWAYS think about bananas when I am faced with the hard stuff, and to be ready, as I Timothy says, in season and out to witness for Him!

Plowed Under!

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Living here in the deep south of Georgia, we are blessed by being in the middle of farm country.  I hate the heat and the gnats of summer, but I LOVE the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables available at roadside stands and the farmer’s market.  Having a pastor for a hubby is also nice, because some church members and other friends feel compelled to give from their own gardens….which is VERY nice!

The other day I had a good friend and ChickFilA customer bring me some fresh corn..as in, divine, just picked that morning corn!  It was fabulous, and I offered to even pay him for some more the next day, since he was going back to the field.  He told me there was no need to pay, because the farmer he was getting it from had overplanted and was glad to get rid of it.

The next day, he came in and said, “it’s too late.  He plowed the rest under last night”.  I could NOT believe it.  I was aware that sometimes that happened when crops failed, or drought hit, but NEVER with perfecty wonderful, delicious, healthy corn!  It was too expensive for him to pay his workers to pick it for the price he would get at the market.  I was so upset, because even in our county, our community, our church, there are people that I know that do not have enough to eat!  And here good fresh food had been WASTED – PLOWED UNDER – because of a farmer’s wrong perspective about what was in it for him.

I spent the rest of the day wondering how this could have happened, and what the truly hungry would have done for that food.  I wondered how the farmer could appear so callous.  And then God spoke…and what He said made me stop in my tracks, and repent.  Because you see, we have the best food of all – the Gospel and God’s Word and the story of salvation – and we hear it over and over, can see it on television, internet, books….we have an abundance!  And what do we mostly do?  We grow from what we “eat”, and share some with others, but the majority gets “plowed under” by our lack of willingness to “pay the price” to feed others!  Our country is experiencing all the effects of SPIRITUALLY starving people all around us..the most recent the SCOTUS decision about gay marriage…and yet we keep the knowledge we have to ourselves!  We sit Sunday after Sunday after Wednesday night receiving spiritual food, and we are NOT sharing!  We say it is easier to “plow it under” – to get enough for ourselves, and our fellow church members, but it is too costly to share.  And therefore we have the world we live in today.

I am preparing to quit feeding just myself and my friends and family.  I hope you will join me in taking the very precious food God has entrusted to us, and feed it to all those who need it most!

Over and Over and Over Again

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I was reading a most interesting article today on the internet by a writer who was disputing the recent “no chemicals” approach to eating that many people today have taken to extremes.  The writer was a highly educated scientist of some unpronounceable degree, and had many valid points about the chemical “hysteria” that exists right now.  And they were knocking, in particular, a blogger whose fame has taken off with their “toxic eating” campaign. He also made the point that this “fad” would fade away soon, because it wasn’t real. However the most striking thing he said was in order to get people to follow this lifestyle of “detoxification”, you have to convince them that “they have been toxed“.

Isn’t that so true in the spiritual realm too?  Our pastor regularly says that you cannot share the good news with someone and get any kind of result, until they understand the bad news!  The bad news is that we were all born in sin, and have a sinful nature, and we cannot fix that on our own.  Until a person understands that and believes it, nothing will happen.  The good news that Jesus died for them to redeem them from the penalty of sin is not significant unless they realize that they need it.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where today’s bad news is quickly yesterday’s false scare.  Every other “scientific study” will completely discredit the last one. Sugar is good today, bad tomorrow.  This causes cancer today, and yet tomorrow it is only a maybe.  Same with people, except in reverse.  Today’s hero – politician, athlete, television personality – is tomorrow’s headline maker for all the wrong reasons.  Nothing seems to be the same from one day to the next.

Then what are we to do?  Live it.  Over and over and over again.  The world will not be impressed by another “here today, gone tomorrow” in ANYONE’S life.  Part of the problem that we encounter in witnessing to others is that sometimes it looks like just another fad in our lives..and that it’s not real.  We will never convince anyone that they are “toxed” – sinners in need of a Savior – by saying we have One and then living like we don’t!

So, let’s detoxify our lives, and our witness by being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  And let’s show others that there IS a problem with their lives if they don’t know Jesus, and then let’s live it to the point that they believe it’s real!