“Are you a teacher?” the clerk behind the checkout counter called out to me.

I had dropped into GNC for a quick purchase and was examining the shelves to decide what to get.

Puzzled, I asked,“Why do you think I look like a teacher?”

“You look like a teacher I used to have.”

I explained that I HAD been homeschooling, but that I was actually a missionary. I found out her name was Elena.

She said, “I’m Catholic. I like being Catholic.”

I shared some verses with her and reminded her about the thief on the cross who couldn’t do any good works before he died (Luke 23:39 – 43).

She seemed to be amazed that I was telling her all this and exclaimed, “Do you mean you make money doing this?”

Well, I wouldn’t quite phrase it like that! I shared some more with her and left her a tract about the Holy Spirit because some Catholics respond better to that tract.

A few days later, I was sharing with another woman who thought being nice to people will get her into Heaven and that everyone has their own way to Heaven.

“I am comfortable with my faith,” she said as I was leaving her home.

I’m concerned for these two women who are “comfortable with their faith” and yet are lost for eternity! I can sometimes be uncomfortable when I share my faith, but I have a secure future in Heaven through Christ (1 John 5:11 – 13).

I was back in GNC two months later.

“Do you remember me?” I asked.

Elena did remember, so I asked if she’d read the booklet I gave her.

“No, I’ve been very busy,” she said as she began to detail about going to school and working.

I couldn’t help but think how all those things were important, but she had missed the most significant part of life in the little book she had ignored.

NOTES:

• Where to buy the booklet on the Holy Spirit, Satisfied.
• How to share the tract, Satisfied.

The Sower by Vincent Van Gogh, identified by Sus Schmitt, is in the Public Domain.