Last Friday at our Book Event at the Greenville Senior Center, I told the folks, “Complete strangers come up and tell me their problems in the grocery store! That’s just the kind of person I am.” Later, I realized that no one has done that in a long while. I thought, Maybe people aren’t going to tell me their problems in the grocery store anymore.

Then on Monday, we went to Walmart in Hermitage. Donn was in another aisle looking for something when a Walmart employee came charging toward me. “She is so rude!” she huffed. “My co-worker is so rude! I don’t know how she’s managed to be married to the same man for 45 years!”

I smiled inwardly. So maybe people were still going to tell me their problems in the grocery store! “Well, he’s a probably a saint, that’s why she’s been able to live with him for 45 years,” I responded.

“Probably,” she said. “She’s old enough to retire, but I bet the reason she doesn’t is because her husband can’t put up with her at home all the time.”

The woman went on in this vein for a while, and then, somehow, started telling us (Donn had returned by then) about her finance who had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. “It’s terminal, you know.”

I sympathized with her and told her, “We understand what it’s like to get that kind of diagnosis because our son died of esophageal cancer last year.”

“Oh that’s awful, I’m so sorry.” It was Angela’s turn to sympathize with us before returning to her story. “When my fiancé got his diagnosis. he said, ‘Ange, I don’t want to die, so I’m going to stop drinking.’”

Her name tag said, “Angela” and I told her Robb’s twin sister’s name is Angelyn and her husband calls her “Ange, too.”

“It must have been so hard for her to lose her twin!” Angela’s eyes filled with tears. Then she continued, “I keep telling my fiancé, ‘You’re not going to die. You’re not!’”

I responded softly, “But you know, all of us are going to die sooner or later. The important thing is that we’re ready. Does your fiancé have a relationship with Jesus?”

“Oh yes,” she said, “he’s a good Christian man.” She went on at some length, trying to convince me.

I wasn’t convinced, but just said, “The important thing is being sure we have a personal relationship with Jesus, then we can know where we’re going when we die. Robb loved his Grandma so much, and we’re comforted to know that not only is he with Jesus, but he’s with his Grandma in heaven.”

Angela smiled and said, “They’re probably up there dancing with my grandparents!”

Before ending the conversation, I hugged Angela and asked for her fiance’s name and told her we’d be praying for both of them.

This incident reminds me of the parable of the sower in Matthew Thirteen, where the farmer scattered his seeds in many different places. In much the same way, God gives us opportunities to plant seeds in many different arenas, even in the aisles of Walmart!

 In this case, the seed planted in Angela’s heart was that when one is facing death, the important thing is to be ready, to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Although we may never see her again, Donn and I can water and fertilize that seed with our prayers.

With situations like these, usually only heaven will reveal whether or not the seeds we plant produce a harvest. The Apostle Paul said, I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). The results are God’s responsibility. Planting seeds is ours.

Father, help us to be sensitive to the opportunities you give us to plant seeds, regardless of where they may happen. Amen.

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