\u201cIs there someone who can wrap these flowers?\u201d I asked the store clerk as I paid for my bouquet of bright pink carnations nestled in baby\u2019s breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll call someone to floral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As I waited, I lifted the flowers to my nose and smelled their spicy-sweet fragrance. Soon a young man, who told me he was about to graduate from high school, arrived at the floral counter and pulled out pink tissue paper and cellophane.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay I ask the occasion for the flowers?\u201d he inquired as he wrapped my bouquet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s for my granddaughter.\u201d I smiled. \u201cShe did a great job at her piano recital today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNice,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to play the drums at Cedar Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCedar Park Church?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t go there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere do you go now?\u201d I asked, looking at his name badge.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowhere,\u201d he replied, wrapping the bouquet.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry to hear that, Jared.\u201d I paused, then added, \u201cJesus is coming back soon, and it\u2019s important to be ready.\u201d I smiled. \u201cI\u2019m listening for the trumpet sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an agnostic, so I don\u2019t believe like that.\u201d Jared pulled out a white ribbon to tie around the bouquet.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep reading the Bible,\u201d I said. \u201cDo you have one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, but I can borrow my mom\u2019s if I need one.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we talked more, I learned his mother was a Christian, but he didn\u2019t know much about his father. When I mentioned I would rather err believing in God than not believing, he replied, \u201cWell, if I\u2019m wrong, I\u2019ll find out and pay for it.\u201d He glanced toward the checkout clerk and said, \u201cLooks like I\u2019m needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks for wrapping my bouquet,\u201d I said, wrapping up the conversation. \u201cYou did a great job.\u201d I looked at the white ribbon tied around the bouquet and wished I could tie up our conversation with a happy ending for Jared.<\/p>\n
As I walked to the car, I remembered verses in Jude: \u201cBe merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire\u201d (vv. 22, 23). I joined my waiting husband in the car and prayed aloud, \u201cLord, draw Jared\u2019s heart to Jesus. May he seek and find You.\u201d<\/p>\n
I continue to pray that God will use my conversation to stir Jared\u2019s thinking and draw him to Jesus so he will know that God exists. I pray he wants a relationship with Him now and for eternity.<\/p>\n
Although I had stopped by the store briefly to buy fragrant flowers, God brought an unexpected witnessing opportunity \u2014 an opportunity to spread the aroma of life.<\/p>\n
But thanks be to God, who always leads us . . . and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved . . . an aroma that brings life (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIs there someone who can wrap these flowers?\u201d I asked the store clerk as I paid for my bouquet of bright pink carnations nestled in baby\u2019s breath. \u201cI\u2019ll call someone to floral,\u201d he said. As I waited, I lifted the flowers to my nose and smelled their spicy-sweet fragrance. Soon a young man, who told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":307,"featured_media":28521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2077],"tags":[2146,2147,2149,2148],"yoast_head":"\n