"Did you see the figs?" A woman I had passed on our walk in Cann Gardens called as she approached me. Figs? I must have missed them. Then I saw them and their big, beautiful leaves. I commented that the leaves were so large, no wonder Adam and Eve used them as coverings!
She must have thought I was biblically inclined, because she and her husband began a conversation with us as we rested on a bench, telling us they were missionaries! We had a wonderful visit with them for at least an hour! When Howard heard they work in Kosovo, he exclaimed, "Kosovo! We supported a missionary there!" Turns out they knew him!
"Yes, we sent money to buy a cow for a widowed villager there!" (The man had been left with children when his wife was a casualty of a war nearby.) We had known this missionary's father, and Howard asked if there was anything our church could do for his ministry. We were told we could buy a cow!
Our small church loved the idea, and within a week the big jug with a red thermometer and markings on its side held the requisite $600! After viewing a video of the poor recipients' joy at receiving it (the young daughter was ecstatic at the prospect of drinking milk) the church collected money for another cow!
What a pleasant respite our encounter was, after the horrendous news we had seen that morning of the carnage in Las Vegas! In a blog the day before, I had referred to our alarm system going off at church, and although it was a malfunction, it didn't keep the firemen from showing up. Then I heard that the Las Vegas shooter's location was found because the smoke alarm in the hotel room had gone off due to all the shots fired!
I was struck by the report that many of the 22,000 people gathered for the event were desperately trying to find a way out of the concert, but all exits had been closed to keep non-ticketed people out. The newsman remarked, "Locking people out also means locking people in."
It is the missionaries' desire (and ours!) to spread the good news of salvation, so that no one will be locked out of Heaven, but will be at a glorious "Lock-in" with Jesus forever more!
Jesus said of the last days, in the parable of the fig tree, "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors!" Matthew 24:12. The alarm has sounded!
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