The following is a continuation of a short story series narrated, authored, and edited by Ethan A. Floyd.
Las Lajas is a beautiful place along the beach here in Panama. However it is small, and shopping for 9 people here is not really an option when they only have a small convenient store. Therefore every Tuesday myself and a couple of others have gone with our host out of town to buy groceries for the week. But no matter where I go I always want to take my Sword with me.
Ephesians 6:17– “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”.
What I mean by taking my sword with me, is that ministry is just life. It’s not when there’s scheduled “church”, bible studies, or Christian events. If that’s the case I’m just doing ministry because I’m on the World Race but what about the rest of my life after the race? Loving Jesus and making Him known is not an event or a scheduled time, it needs to be a lifestyle. Jesus didn’t meet with the disciples for an hour every day and preach an awesome message and say go think about that and meet back tomorrow. It was HIS LIFE! Jesus said “pick up your cross, deny yourself and come and follow me”! My prayer is that loving Jesus and making Him known is my life. It’s when I’m at work, at home, in the airport, at dinner, etc…
Sorry for the tangent ^, back to the story. As we have been shopping these past two Tuesdays, we have had the chance to pray with two people, share the Gospel with someone who was a non-believer, and tell many others who we are and why we are here.
I met a couple who have lived here for 15 years, but were originally from Texas. It was nice being able to speak English to fellow Americans. After we chatted for a while and exchanged brief stories, I found out they were Christians as well. As best I could I tried to challenge and encourage them, and it was a blessing.
For many others here that are local, they claim Catholicism but they don’t really have a relationship with Jesus. Several times I’ve been able to explain there is a big difference between knowing about Jesus in your head and doing the ‘tradition of church’ and knowing Christ and receiving Him in your heart. Although no one has received Christ on the spot, I can see the wheels turning in their mind, and I pray that seeds have been planted.
Moral of the story… Always carry your Sword of Truth with you! Be courageous, even if it’s in a different language in a grocery store in the middle of Panama.
