Central Abbotsford

As my kids have gotten older, springtime in the Heath family has come to be a very busy season for sports. My three oldest children are all involved in track and field, which means that I have lost count of the number of times I have driven to and from Rotary Stadium in the past month!

Last weekend, however, was the first out-of-town track meet of the season, in Maple Ridge. The venue of the meet was the high school, which has a fairly compact competition area, especially with 400 athletes (and their families) scattered across it. As it happens, this led to some issues.

One of the shot put sand pits was located right next to a small parking lot. As my son was warming up in the pit along with the other 11-and-under boys, a woman pushing a stroller walked from the parking lot and right into the middle of the throwing pit. I (along with a couple of other parents and the meet officials) started shouting at her to get her attention, and after a few seconds, and while she was standing dead centre in the shot put landing area, she turned her head in my direction, shrugged, and kept walking. It was only by the grace of God, and His ability to restrain the hand of the 10-year-old boy who was preparing to heave a two-kilogram cast-iron sphere mere feet from her, that something bad didn’t happen.

If you have ever shared the gospel with someone who didn’t respond to it, you will be familiar with the mix of feelings that I had in the moment of hollering at that lady to get out of the sand – primarily, fear and frustration; fear that a terrible outcome is imminent and frustration that the person either can’t see the danger or won’t listen to your warnings. It can be discouraging, and can lead you to want to shake your head with frustration as I was doing Saturday morning, watching the stroller leave tire tracks across the breadth of the sand pit.

What, then? The next time I see someone aimlessly wandering into danger, should I keep my mouth shut, thinking “well, last time I tried helping, nothing happened”? By no means! Just as I have no way of knowing whether my shout of warning will prevent that woman from crossing through the pit on the way back to her car, neither do you know whether your seemingly “unsuccessful” efforts at sharing the gospel won’t keep your loved one from the pit eternally. Not to mention the possibility that my next effort might show more immediate results. It would be foolishness, and not gospel foolishness, to lose heart because someone does not turn right away.

Romans 10:13 reminds us of the stakes, and they are even greater than a wayward shot put – “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And the next verse asks two questions that clarify our role – “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”

So, if you are feeling demoralized or down owing to your seeming failures at sharing the gospel, be reminded that the God of the universe has entrusted you, as a believer, with a partnership role in the sacred story of salvation. And, in the meantime, keep praying earnestly: for opportunities to share the gospel, boldness in doing so, and above all, for the Spirit of God to be at work in all, doing the work that only He can.

Until Saturday,

Eric