1 John 3:1 ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.’
January 27 — Today isn’t the normal Mormon quote of the day. We’re moving out of our comfort zone based on the Lord’s promptings.
My first question today is this –
Remember the day you were saved?
Do you recall how dramatically it changed your life?
Do you live with that much enthusiasm every day?
Do others know about it?
A favorite pastime for our family is visiting Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Four city blocks stretching across nine acres are filled with indoor vendors selling anything from fresh fish and flowers to fruits and vegetables and even floor to ceiling teas and spices from all over the world. There’s really no other place like it!
The ‘famous’ flying fish mongers take center stage as people gather round to see workers yell out customer orders and throw the fish to the butchers behind an elevated counter. It’s quite the scene and difficult not to get caught up in the excitement of the pressing crowds.
You can always be sure to experience the smell of roasted nuts and freshly made mini-donuts filling the air while waiting for your fish order, or for someone to hand you a homemade cannoli filled with fresh cream, topped with the coveted candied fruit.
The experience is almost heavenly until you step outside its doorway.
Right on the other side of their garbage bins, you’re sure to see a young man sitting on milk crates playing either his banjo, or guitar. He sits in the same place every day just as he’s done each time I’ve seen him down there. He seems to be one of Pike Places’ resident buskers. His worn clothes and matted hair bespeak of difficult times.
We don’t know his name, and he doesn’t respond to questions. The only sign he’s willing to interact with others is the open guitar case on the ground accepting his daily pay from a passerby.
Incidental to his presence at the market on one particular day were two well-groomed Mormon missionaries who happened to be at my local grocery store hanging around in their not-so-discreet ties and white shirts. The Lord was obviously showing me two vastly different scenarios firsthand of the lost who could use some good news!
Just as the young man in Seattle who needed more than the paltry coins thrown his way, the young men in white shirts and ties in our upper middle-class neighborhood need Him as much. They’re as broke as the downtown banjo playing busker.
Not long ago I asked the question, ‘how many churches did you drive past on your way to work today?’.
Today we’re asking a similar question –
How many people did you pass by that could use Jesus’ good news of salvation?
Did you stop to tell them of how great God is?
The man downtown won’t interact with anyone, but the Mormon missionaries heard about Him that day! And who knows what the man downtown will take in? God said His word doesn’t come back void, and I for one, believe it. Isaiah 55:11
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Although we live busy lives, we’re praying that as Christians we’ll all take just a moment from our busy schedules and tell people why our lives have changed for the better!
What new thing did you learn about Jesus today?
With Love in Christ —
Michelle ✟
[…] Buskers and Missionaries […]
Yes. They need salvation just the same if they are living in a hut in a 3rd world country, or in a fabulous penthouse apartment in a bustling city. Their condition is the same. Lost.
Amen, amen, amen! I pray all the time that missionaries would knock on my door but that hasn’t happened in a long time. It used to be I’d see them at our local library, but they stopped doing that in recent years.
One of our neighbors is Mormon and we pray that every time we see him, he’ll think about what we tell him about Jesus!
Now that I’m retired, I obviously find I have more free time. I walk a lot, and run into many people. I’m not overly outgoing, and rather shy, but God is pushing me to approach people. It’s funny, if I walk one way I pass a ward (but I never see anyone). If I walk the other way I pass a kingdom Hall (also never see anyone).
Living near Disneyland I see a lot of buskers. And I can say most of them do very well financially, and do much better financially than missionaries. They have a “business model”, many buskers want to appear as if they’re poor and in need of money.
Great analogy Michelle.
It’s sad that neither of those churches have people in them. We can’t drive by any Christian church around here that don’t have people inside.
It’s a very telling sign of what’s really going on. Sigh…