God's Tool Shed

When I remember my Columbus pastorate at the St. John Church, I often remember a young man who came calling himself an agnostic.  He came because his wife said it was time to get back to church and so out of love for his wife, he went.  As one who liked music, he joined the choir.  As one who liked to discuss with others things being thought, he joined a Sunday School class.  He got so immersed, he found himself at the altar one Sunday professing faith in Christ and wanting to be baptized.  But, it did not stop at the altar.  He then went to his housebound non-believing Mother, told her about Jesus, and she, too, was baptized before she died of cancer.     

I cannot help but remember Burley when I come to the end of the story of the Samaritan woman.  She came to the well that day not figuring on meeting Jesus and when she did, two things happened.  Jesus changed her life and she went to tell others about Him.  Because of her witness to them about Jesus "many from that city believed in Him." (John 4:39)  I have heard some powerful and persuasive preachers in my time, but I am convinced that one person sharing about Jesus with another is one of the most powerful tools in God's tool shed.  When I was in college, I participated in many Lay Witness Missions and saw early on the  power of shared faith.    

It remains so today as well.  People expect the preachers to talk about Jesus.  They are not surprised to hear those known as the pillars of the church declare their faith, but when the folks who sit in the pew and work in the world start talking about a personal relationship with Jesus, people listen.  Not only do they listen, but their lives can be changed just as it was in those days when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.