What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 2:5-9, NIV 1984).
My Musings – I first laid eyes on my wife Eileen from the choir loft as she entered my church with a friend (a former girlfriend). I thought to myself, “that’s someone I would like to get to know.” I asked that friend (yes, we were still on good terms) to invite Eileen to our annual church Halloween party and hayride. When Eileen saw my car (1969 Camaro), she had a similar thought as mine, “the owner of that car is someone I would like to get to know.” She also thought I was a nice guy to give her my gloves on the hayride, as she had not brought hers, and it was cold and windy. At any rate, that was the beginning.
When we first started dating, her mother assured me that Eileen was a Christian, and her behavior never caused me to second guess what her mom had told me. While the Scriptures are quite clear on being equally yoked, I don’t know what I would have done if I knew otherwise. At any rate, two years later (1975) we married, and I was none the wiser.
Fast forward a few years. It was late summer. Eileen was rapidly losing her eyesight. She was in the front of the house in our driveway washing her car (she probably shouldn’t have been driving anymore) wearing her bikini. I was in the backyard mowing the yard, as I had already mowed the front yard. When I finished and came inside, I found my wife (still wearing her bikini) with a grey-haired gentleman (probably late sixties) holding a Bible. Not a Jehovah’s witness and not a Mormon. A Baptist minister. I think my words were something to the effect, “what’s going on here?” I was quite the orator. His reply was, “your wife just accepted Christ as her personal Savior.”
Now today, I don’t think many evangelical pastors still go door to door. And I am quite sure they would not follow a young bikini-clad young lady alone into her house. But in 1979, I am glad he did. Of course, the time was ripe for Eileen, struggling as it were with losing her vision. Had this encounter not occurred, I think that given time my influence would have also led her to Christ. At least I would like to think that. Remember, I was told she was a believer and she had never given me reason to think otherwise.
As I reflect back, I think it went something like this. Her Christian parents planted the seed. Her Christian husband, although unknowingly, watered it. And God, using an elderly Baptist minister, made it grow. And from that moment on, grow she did. She never became the student of the Word to the same extent as me, but her light shined much brighter than mine. And she has “been rewarded according to [her] own labor.”
My Advice – I started my Christian blog several years before Eileen’s passing. Afterwards, I considered for a time not continuing. But the impact that her witness had on others spurs me on to continue my witness, such as it is. The people that I reach with my blogs, “are God’s field” that I sometimes plant and sometimes water. But as always, it is “only God, who makes things grow.” Prayerfully, “it will not return to [Him] empty, but will accomplish what [He] desire[s] and achieve the purpose for which [He sends] it.” (Isaiah 55:11, NIV 1984). Whether to aid in leading people into the Kingdom, or helping fellow believers grow in Christ.
“What, after all, [are you]?” An unbeliever in need of a Savior? A planter? A waterer? Those really are the only three valid choices. Make yours.
The Brew Is A Musing 