“He reasoned…in the market place daily with those who happened to be there…”  (Acts 17:17)

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.l.”  (Eccl. 11:1)

Yesterday was the market place day.  I was already busy however.  I had a visit to our newspaper house which is extremely kind to me.  Some opponents had in the columns just attacked me angrily, but the editor gave access to readers who boldly defended me in two articles, though I don´t think they were born again. (But the local Christians usually “forsake” me , see 2 Tim. 4:16).  The editor immediately had printed one of my poems and brought a beautiful picture along.  “Keep me low and don´t let me be puffed up”, I prayed.

The market sales closed down at 2 pm, and I only had ½ hour left.  So what was the use of going there?  I´m glad I did.  Soon I had on my bench a mother and her two girls sitting next to me.  They talked a little funny, so I asked them, “Do you speak Danish?”  They smiled.  Yes, they tried to, coming from Norway, and now it all went on in Danish.  Oh, they had so much to tell me and vice versa.  After all my wife is a Norwegian too.

Why do I say all this?  To testify to you, for your encouragement, and your encouragement only, the old truth that once you start a natural talk about natural things, you suddenly find yourself telling your own happy story of how Christ came into your life!  They also had my “silver coin” and my “card” with the Scandinavian banners, incl. a Faroese one, and one of the girls, Christina (15), asked, “Do you ever get e-mails from people who read your card?”  Not so often, I admitted, but sometimes yes.  A beautiful young girl in GA is writing me and calls me “mr. Jorn”. They laughed. Christina wants to write me too and will send me her own drawing of the cross.

What a wonderful opportunity for the gospel.  I gave Christina a brand new New Testament and read Joh. 3:16 slowly together with her and her mother and sister.  I did that twice and asked them to put their own names right there where they read the word “the world”. – “Amen”, Christina said.  The mother had tattoos all over, incl. several crosses.  “I love the cross”, the mother said.  “But you´ve got to have it in your heart and not only on your arms”, I said, and she understood and admitted that that kind of relationship to God she was missing.

I came at closing time, but I´m glad I didn´t close down myself.  “Look around, gentlemen”, there´s nothing the people want to hear as much as the gospel!” my old friend, C.H. Spurgeon, once said.  It´s not always true, but sometimes it is, e.g. at that market place at my “blessed” bench at closing time.  Before a listening little gang from Norway.

“Closing time” is soon coming to your and my life, isn´t it?  Anyway, let the gospel have advantage of it “in season and out of season”  (2 Tim. 4:2).  Isn´t it worth it?

July 5, 2012 – jn