I Don't Know

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. I feel good about what I'm doing here, but am I doing any good? I don't know. A week ago, my friend, Jeremy Pegram, who is on staff at my home church of Maple Springs UMC, preached a sermon using Jesus' parable of the sower and the seeds. You know the story: some seeds fall on the path and are eaten by birds; some seeds fall on shallow soil and don't have the roots to grow; some begin to grow, but weeds spring up and strangle them; and some have everything go right and grow and bear fruit. Instead of mustard seeds, Jeremy used the pumpkin seed as an example in his sermon. I'm not much of a gardener, but even I know that a single pumpkin seed, if cared for, can grow a vine that will take over a yard and which, in turn, will produce lots of pumpkins. To bend Jeremy's use of the pumpkin seed just a bit, think about how many people will eat pumpkin pies, spend time with their children carving pumpkins, and enjoy lighting them up on the night of Halloween. The youth at Maple Springs will sell pumpkins and use that money for mission projects (do you know that those pumpkins are grown right here on the Navajo Reservation?) The final results of a pumpkin seed might feed, create quality time for families, create memories for children, and earn money to do more good for more people. But does the sower of the pumpkin know this when he plants the seed? Does he think about it? Does he even care? Does he know that the results of his effort might mean so much to so many? Doing the things that I am doing here makes me think of being the sower. Some of the seeds we attempt to sow will never bear fruit. Some will fall on closed minds. Some will fall on closed hearts. Some, however, will touch the fertile ground of worried minds, aching hearts, and wondering souls. Which of the seeds will produce positive results? I don't know. I'm not called to know. I'm called to sow. Last week, I worked on a project to get FCNAM on a Lowe's Home Improvements donation list. I also worked on a project to submit a proposal to the same Lowe's to have some of their volunteers help set up the buildings necessary to a church outreach. I took several boxes of children's books to the women's shelter. I helped unload a whole trailer load of clothes for the thrift shop. Will any one of these efforts save even one soul for Christ? I don't know. I'm not called to know. I'm called to sow. Each one of us is called to sow wherever we are. Will we succeed? I don't know. We aren't called to know. We are just called to sow. Peace and Love Ross