“So, do you have any special plans for Christmas?”

“No,” Marco said, “I’ll just spend it with my son.”

The subject of Christmas usually can start a good conversation about Christ, but I felt like a runner screeching to a halt at the first hurdle. Our conversation went on to the subject of bugs. I backed up and raced forward to try the hurdle again.

“Do you have a church background?” I asked.

“No, we did not go much when I was a kid.”

I slammed into the hurdle. Marco was going to be in our home an hour and a half for our annual pest control treatment. I knew I wanted to talk to him about knowing God personally. If his chemicals worked, he would not be back for three months.

We talked some more about carpenter ants while my mind raced for some way to get our conversation moving on the right track. I decided since I was unable to lead into the topic of Christ and we had already talked for some time, I would just ask him something outright.

“Do you have any interest in spiritual things?”

It did not matter about my technique. I felt as if I stood in front of the hurdle and just jumped, but at last I was over it. I was soon learning more about Marco and was able to minister to him over the next twenty or thirty minutes. Read more about our conversation on Marco, continued.

NOTES:

• This post is part of The Sower, encouragement on MikeandSus.org to help you share your faith.
• The photo of the hurdles is available on Wikimedia Commons and is attributed to Selligpau.