From local Baptist Sunday to cathedral pulpit! My son Richard has been on an incredible spiritual journey. My wife and I are deeply thankful that all four of our sons are committed to serving God but last weekend was very special for us as a family because Richard was invited to preach in St Paul's cathedral in his capacity as a CEO of the YMCA.
We are incredibly proud of his achievement of course. What parent wouldn't be? And we are hugely thankful to God for the fabulous work YMCA does to enrich people's lives too. But I can't let this happy occasion go by without spending a little bit of time thinking about all the people (some known, some unknown) who have helped Richard become the man he is today.
In fact I am especially grateful to the unknown Christian who first introduced him to Jesus. Richard was very young at the time; we think he was four or five years old, and we were sampling the simple pleasures of a day on the beach at Barry Island. Much to our delight we discovered that there was a beach mission there that day, and although I haven't a clue which church or churches were running it, I do know the kids were having a brilliant time, and Richard was very happy to join in with the fun.
We had no idea what was "occurring" at the time but something clearly clicked that day because Richard came back and told us that he wanted to become a Christian. And what started as a child like expression of faith turned out to be just the beginning of a God adventure, an adventure that every Christian knows is all about discovering life in all its fullness.
I am sure that whoever introduced Richard to Jesus that day will remain anonymous until we meet in eternity. He (or she) is obviously oblivious to the impact that the Beach Mission had on Richard and us as a family but that should surely encourage us to get stuck in to doing the right thing even when we don't have a clue what impact we are having on others.
As St Paul himself puts it "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone". For we can be sure of these three truths: we reap what we sow; we reap later than we sow; and we will always reap more than we sow.
There is no guarantee that we will see the fruit of our labours this side of death of course. That's why it's good to be a Christian: our hopes are not limited to this life. Jesus has conquered death and because of that we can live our lives in the confident expectation that nothing we do in the Lord will ever be in vain. As the prayer commonly associated with the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero says:
That is what we are about.
We plant a seed that will one day grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations
that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.
Rob James is a Baptist minister, writer and church and media consultant to the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is the author of Little Thoughts About a Big God.
