He Who Has Ears to Hear...

I stand up in front of nearly one hundred men, women, and children, and try to explain grace.

Others are just passing by. Maybe they stop to listen.

We had passed out 500 fliers, telling people about the event. A few of them actually come.

And we just had a great time with about fifty kids. Balloons, games, and a drama about salvation. Many of them leave to invite their parents.

And we set up all of our equipment to show a movie in an open air plaza in one of the largest districts of Cusco.

The movie is about a man named Felix Vargas. He worked for the drug cartel in Colombia, a trained killer. But his wife shows him the love of Jesus Christ, and his life is never the same.

And there I stand, in front of those men, women and children. And I try to explain something that took me years to understand, something I still struggle to grasp: the amazing grace of God.

Some hear, but leave.

Some listen attentively, but decide it isn’t for them.

Some say they want to change their lives, but in the last week, the going has gotten tough, and they return to old ways…leopards and spots, you know what they say.

But maybe a couple listen, they pray, saying, “I believe in you Jesus. Come change my life.” And maybe these couple of people will continue following Christ, all the days of their lives.

Only God knows.

But we did our job. We presented the message. And Jesus knew what would happen:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

This is my prayer before each of the events we do: “Whoever has ears, let him hear. Lord, give them ears to hear and eyes to see.”

And God is in charge of the results.

It can be so easy to stress out about numbers, but in the end, God is in charge of the results. Now, I don’t want to use that as a cop-out to not give my all, because, “God will take care of the results.” I must also give everything I have. But as long as I keep planting seeds, God makes them grow.

And that is a cool thing to be a part of.