I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our lives are like seeds. We grow a little here and a little there. Cast out into the soil of this world by a mighty Planter who knows some ground will be instantly fruitful and others will take cultivation. A seasoned farmer knows that harvesting takes time and patience.
Be still.
Life in Vietnam has been like this as well. We work in conversation rooms helping people with their English. We spend countless hours getting to know people’s stories all with the intention of being able to share the gospel through conversation. To weave the best story into their story. To tell the Good News despite all the illusionary closed doors. I’ve been learning to be brave and bold in a place that always tells you to be quiet.
I can’t even count the number of stories I’ve heard this month, all so different but with the same heartbeat. “I want to be loved. I want to be known. I want my life here to matter.”
This brings me to my friend, “John”. John is a young Vietnamese man with his whole life before him. He is from a poor Provence in the north and came to Ho Chi Mihn city because of the opportunity for a better life. He works everyday all day just to provide food for himself, struggles to barely keep his head above the pounding waves of bills and responsibilities and family. He had a girlfriend but she left him. Why? Because he had nothing going for him and she wanted the cash money, big car, and fancy house. You know how it goes.
But John’s motto is: never give up. He tells us this over and over and over like a record of hope on repeat. Despite the struggles in his life, he believes in better things. John may not have a relationship with Jesus, but he sure is close. And I may never see the fruit with my own eyes, but I’m learning that that’s ok. Some reap and others sow. Both are equally as important in the Kingdom. And if I really trust that God is lord of the harvest, then I will trust in His timing as well. A little here and a little there.
So I propose a toast: to the here and there’s, to never giving up, and to keeping our eyes on the prize
