Trading Places – The Sower and the Fruit posted by jwatson on Apr 05, 2012

Not too long ago, I was out with my trainee, John*, on his last OJT of the semester. It was a long semester coming to an end, and due to the looming deadline, we decided to meet an old college friend of John’s.

John confessed that his friend, Huck, was probably a Christian. Admittedly I wasn’t too keen sharing with a Christian again, but being the last OJT, I obliged.

To our surprise, when asked if he was sure he would go to heaven, Huck said “no”, and added that he was no longer sure of what he would say to God were he to stand before God in heaven. He had stopped going to church regularly, and was a man full of doubt. His response shocked my trainee, who perhaps did not expect his “Christian” friend to respond the way he did.

Well, we shared the gospel with him, and had an good time discussing some of his struggles and thoughts. At the end of the session, we told Huck we would pray for him. Huck remarked to John that ‘years ago in college we prayed for your salvation, and now here you are praying for mine.’

The little story above isn’t epic, dramatic, or shell-shocking, but as a Christian I went home with a lot to think about. I was particularly gripped by what Huck said above about the exchange of places. Thank God John’s friend prayed for John in his college days – a seed sown then has indeed borne fruit.

And now the ‘fruit’ is now praying for the ‘sower’. This is an urgent reminder that no soul can be taken for granted – even the ones we thought we are sure of.

—

*names are made anonymous