Grasshoppers, Miracles, and Jesus

We went to a different church every Sunday morning. Dan found something wrong with every one of them. Preachers would come to our apartment and Dan would debate with every one of them, questioning what they said and disagreeing with them. Every church was either, too big or too small, the people were too old, the preacher was boring. You name it Dan could find something wrong with each one of them. But that girl in my office was praying for me. She was praying for my baby. She knew we needed to find the Lord.
Finally one day, that girl told me that her church had built a new building and they were moving in that weekend. She invited me to come again. So we went. Countryside Christian Church, in Wichita, Kansas. It wasn’t crowded, it wasn’t too big, it wasn’t filled with just old people. I was like Goldilocks and the three bears; it was just right. Dan couldn’t find anything wrong with it. The assistant preacher, Ed came by that week while Dan was at work. He told me about Jesus, he told me about salvation, he told me what I needed to do. I told him that I was ready for all of it, but I had told God, I was going to wait for Dan. He wrote everything he said down, so I could say it all to Dan.
I don’t know if I was wrong to wait for Dan. I’ve often thought about it since then, but I knew what it was like to go to church alone. I knew in my heart that God had been directing me on this journey. So I trusted that He was going to work it out. I told Dan exactly what preacher Ed had told me and he had no response. We didn’t talk about it, he said nothing.
By this time, I was 8 ½ months pregnant, and as big as a house. The next Sunday, we got up and got ready for church. Dan said, let’s go back to that Countryside Church. I was shocked, but willing. I liked Ed, the assistant preacher, and Dan liked Dean, the main preacher. We were sitting there in church that morning, and the preacher asked if anyone wanted to give their heart to Jesus and be baptized. Dan grabbed my hand and said let’s go. We went up to the altar and gave our lives to Jesus.
You might think that would be the end of the story, but another miracle happened that same day. They asked if we wanted to be baptized that day, and Dan said that he wanted to but that I would have to wait, because I wasn’t allowed to get into a bath. The preacher smiled and said, “we changed the water this morning, it’s clean and fresh, we prepared for you today just in case, and …. We have an obstetrician waiting in the back on standby to ensure that she is safe and healthy.”
I didn’t know what was going to happen that day. Dan didn’t decide until that moment what he wanted to do. But God. But God knew, and those preachers somehow were ready for us. That is just the first in the long line of times, that showed me that God was faithful. All my life. Every step of the way.
One 17-year-old high school girl shared her faith. One assistant preacher walked a 19-year-old pregnant girl through the steps of salvation. God changed a 20-year-olds heart and two people’s lives changed forever in a moment. God is so, so, good.
That high school girl shared her faith and an invitation, with a pregnant 19-year-old. The results were a family with a legacy of faith. She knew I was looking for faith and she shared with me her church. She didn’t give up. She kept on asking.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) overview on Google defines evangelism as “the act of sharing the Christian Gospel—the "good news" about Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection—with others, aiming to persuade them to believe and follow him, often leading to personal conversion and a relationship with God.” All that is true but sometimes evangelism can be simply an invitation.
I knew a man named Jack. One of his favorite things to say was “give ‘em Jesus.” That girl didn’t know my history. She didn’t know that God had been working on me for a long time to come to Him. She just knew I needed Jesus, so she gave me Jesus. In her quiet invitation to “come to my church.”
Jesus told His disciples “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). It is amazing to me that Jesus entrusted His mission on earth to a word-of-mouth business model. But because He is God, He knew that it would work. I am so thankful that it worked.
I stand here today living proof that it is essential for us to be willing to go and tell others about our Jesus. It is a simple command. It’s not hard to do. Just a little nudge and as Jack would say “give ‘em Jesus.”