The Power of Oranges

I promise this is not a post about Major Orange Man...

Here's a quick story of something cool that happened in one of the ministry tracks.  We were tasked with walking through a local neighborhood, find people, share the gospel, and invite them to local churches.

It sounds easy, but its pretty terrifying to put yourself out there like that with strangers.

Our kids were ready though!  We just got done eating lunch and had some leftover food.  The campus that we stay at provides the food.  They have a rule in place that once food leaves their campus they cannot take it back, so any leftovers we had would be thrown away.

We were bummed about the waste but it only took a few seconds on the sovereignty of God and how perfect His plans are.  We took the remaining oranges outside to hand out to people.  We met a man who was from Africa who came to America to study medicine.  We met two elderly ladies that attend church down the road and had a strong faith in the Lord.  We also met a man who spent 30 minutes talking about his life.

Each of these happened with the same beginning.  We literally walked up to them and asked "hey do you want an orange?".  It's an odd request.  I don't know how I would react if someone offered me an orange.  But everyone we offered one to, took one!  Not only that but everyone we offered one to, was another opportunity to share the gospel.

The man from Africa studying medicine had an even more unique story beyond the oranges.

We were looking for people to talk to.  We went outside and looked at the various bus stops.  We didn't see anyone.  We sat down because it was incredibly hot and humid.  We then saw a man (the med student) look at us, and walk across 4 lanes of traffic.  Once he got near us he sat right next to me. 

There are many times we complain that its hard to witness because you just don't see opportunities.  By simply sitting down, God gave us an easy to see opportunity.

It made me wonder how many missed opportunities I have had in my life because I was either too busy to sit down, or to distracted to see the man sit next to me.

When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone?