An old friend was teaching in the East. He missed his wife very much and longed to be with her and his family. He was working hard to get a business going so that he could come back to live at home.

He was struggling with why he was there.

He said:

As I was walking along the sidewalk, I saw these footprints in the cement. I started taking photos of the footprints. Then I asked Leo, a food vendor on the sidewalk, why the footprints were there and what it meant.

As we started talking a woman passed carrying a guitar on her way to her Christian church in the area. She spoke better English than Leo and quickly explained it to me.

And we started witnessing to Leo. She went first and told Leo in Thai, waving her hands in the air, explaining about God and His Son, Jesus, our Saviour. And I had the opportunity to confirm this and share my story.

We looked at each other and asked Leo if He wanted to accept the Lord Jesus in his life. We started praying the repentance prayer. Leo repeated it in Thai as she prayed. When she finished, I prayed my version in English.

Afterwards I asked her if she had a Thai Bible for Leo. She promised to have one delivered and invited him to her church. I took down her details for future contact to follow up on Leo.

On Sunday, as we normally did, my wife and I listened to the sermon on RSG, and I thought to myself: What would be the topic of this Sunday’s sermon? I hoped it would be about what had happened earlier that week in the street. And wow! The pastor spoke about Paul’s letter to the Philippians while he was in prison, and how he, handcuffed to the warden, continued witnessing.

Afterwards, I thought when last did I led someone to the Lord like that morning with Rebekah? It did more for my spirit than Leo, because in that moment we were busy with His work. It’s His work – and how serious are we about His work, His gospel, His Word?

It’s so simple. We must simply talk to others and ask: “Do you want to accept Jesus?”

It started with a simple question about footprints in cement.

If that was the only reason why my friend was in the East, it was worth the trouble over and over again. The angels are singing up there!

My friend didn’t know it, but he had shared the best with the stranger and remembered it well: ¹⁶Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

Scripture
Hebrews 13:9-16

Reflection
Do you do enough good for others?
Can you do more?
Where and how?

Prayer
Father, I get so much! You give me everything I need. And I give so little of that to the people around me. I want to have in order to share. In Jesus’ Name, amen.