Planting, Old Testament Style

   I struck up a conversation with Deb at Aldi's.  Turned out, she was about my age.   As we made small talk, we moved from the front of the store where we were bagging, to outside, where the carts belong.
  After some time, the subject of church came up. Aha!  The moment I had been waiting for.  Church was obviously important to her, so I asked where she went.  She said the name of the church, which meant nothing.  She also told me the denomination, which meant everything.  I groaned inwardly.  I knew the type.  Before I even asked the question, I knew her answer, but I asked anyway.  "If you were to die today, are you 100% certain you would go to heaven?"  She assured me she was.  I asked on what she based that, and she proceeded to tell me what a good person she is, exactly as I expected.
   I took the opportunity to explain that it is not about our goodness, but our relationship with Jesus, though Jesus certainly wants us to do good things.  I said, "If we could be good enough to go to heaven based on what we've done, why did Jesus even need to die?"  She didn't have an answer for that.  She did end up waffling, admitting that there was some doubt in her mind.  I told her we could know, but, like everything else, it  seemed to mean little to her. Finally, we parted ways.  I got in the car and sighed, thinking, "Well, that was a waste of my time."
  As I drove away, I turned on the radio.  A Christian station was playing.  The speaker said, "Do you know the difference between the way a farmer planted in Bible times and the way we plant now?"  He explained that in modern day farming, we plow, first, but in Bible times they scattered the seed and then plowed.  Scattered.  Exactly what I had done.  It was now the Holy Spirit's job to plow.Thank you, Jesus.
  This evening, I dealt with a person of just the opposite type of background.  Confused, fearful, one who had spent time in prison, and in whom alcohol had a hold, among other things,he sent me a link to his picture and it was so terrifying, I quickly retuned to the site. He told me about a ghost, which I knew very well was a demon.  His talk was very confusing, one time professing he had prayed and received Christ in prison, another time saying he was Satan, himself.  A good amount of time was "wasted" this way, going back and forth between the two poles of good and evil.  Finally, after my bedtime had come and gone, I saw my way clear.  More scattering of seed.  Time and time again, once he gave me an open door, I quoted scripture." This time, even though I saw no fruit for our talk, I did not feel defeated or disheartened.  I had done my part; the only part I can do.  I'm sure that in both cases, someone else could have done a better job.  But, I will not wait around for someone else to do it.  Let them do it next time!  Supposedly, the average amount of times most people need to hear the gospel is seven.  May this have been number six.
   For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek."  Romans 1:16-17