Leviticus 9:7-10:20, Mark 4:26-5:20, Psalm 37:30-40, Proverbs 10:6-7

Leviticus 9:7-10:20, Mark 4:26-5:20, Psalm 37:30-40, Proverbs 10:6-7         

 

 

I've been reminded of Spain today by a couple separate occasions.  Spain has a very, very special place in my heart and also has a great influence on who I am today.  In the summers of 2000 and 2001 I spent a few weeks there on mission trips and it was the July night in 2000 before I went the first time that I surrendered all to God.  There is a story many of you have heard me tell and I know many will gear it again.   It has had such an impact on me personally and how I look at God and His timing. 

Growing up there were two very influential men in my spiritual grown.  Edu was one of my pastors and was our leader to Spain.  With his family he was a missionary in Spain for many years and you need to know that Spain and much of Europe is considered one of the "spiritually darkest" places in the world.  He invested so much into that country and in those people sharing the Love and Gospel of Christ to these lost and hopeless people.  He eventually left the country to peruse other ministries, but his hurt was discouraged, frustrated, and felt that all those years were a failure.  Of course this was what God intended…for him to come to NM and impact so many people as the way he did in my own life.  As we returned to Spain in 2000 he was very reserved and cautious (spiritually) remembering the hurt and discouragement he felt when he left.  At the end of the trip things had changed for Edu and his family. 

Mark 4:26 – 29 reminded me of Edu and the investment he made.  Edu served God and preached His word.  He planted seeds and seeds.  When he left Espana he felt that it was all a waste because there were not multitudes and multitudes of people who converted, revivals did not happen, and new churches were not necessarily started.  Edu and his family had scattered seeds (the Gospel) all over a rocky ground…he just did not know what had happened all those years in between.  At the end of that first mission trip to Spain, one of the pastors who was close to Edu shared a story of one of these seeds.  Decades ago the church in a small Spanish town was putting on an outreach event and Edu went around to local businesses inviting people and asked to hang up signage.  Little did he know that he entered a shop and planted one single seed.  A couple years later the owner of one of those shops went to church…time continued and this man came to know Christ.  When he was asked what prompted him to come to church in the first place he replied "Fue el hombre con el bigote rojo," "It was the man with the red mustache." Edu was that man with a red mustache that invested so much, loved God, obeyed God, but didn't know God's timing.  The harvest was coming, just not at the pace we expected or wanted. 

We have the opportunity everyday to plant these seeds, even just through our actions alone.  We don't have to be missionaries out there across the ocean.  The darkness can be the halls we walk at work, when we are in a place we don't want to be.  God may be getting the harvest ready according to his time. In Psalm 37, we read today it says, "Wait for the Lord and keep His way.  He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it."  I will never forget this story or the man with el bigote rojo.