Within Earshot

I had just left the ATM machine at the grocery store when I heard him.
He works in a custodial position in the store.
This day he was emptying the trash cans and adding new plastic liners in each.
He saw me and asked his question using, as taught my children, an outside voice.

What book would you recommend for a child? he asked me loud enough for everyone to hear.
Did he realize how difficult that question was?
Did he know that I have far too many to even begin to list them?
I will meet you over there and we can talk, I said to him.

Not only did he use his outside voice, he asked me the question near the registers.
He wanted to talk at the busiest place in the store.
It was crowded with people doing their pre-Thanksgiving grocery shopping.
I knew that a little further down the aisle would be best.

At the produce section, we stopped and talked.
Do you want a story book; do you want a book about God? I asked him.
That was not an odd question since we have talked about God and faith before.
He told me that he loves to read and I know that he loves to talk as well.

He is a pleasant man.
He says hello to many of the customers.
Only a few see glimpses of what he must be like outside of the store.
He is an older man; he lives alone.

I have never pried into his private life.
The only reason I know he lives alone is that he told me he loves to cook.
One week, he saw me buying sweet potatoes.
How are you going to cook them? he asked without hesitation.

I make a delicious fall soup with them, I answered.
I would love that recipe; I love to have something to eat when I get back from church, he said.
I will bring it to you, I said making a mental note to do just that.
I did bring it to him the next day but it was his day off.

I kept that recipe in my pocketbook until the next time I went food shopping.
I asked if he was there, when I did not see him.
Someone went into the back to get him.
He came out and saw me as I handed him the recipe.

He laughed a belly laugh, not in an inside voice.
I never thought you would remember, he said.
I remembered, I said.
That began a weekly conversational friendship.

How old are the children you are buying the book for? I asked him.
Five and six, he said, which helped me narrow the selections a bit.
I think the best book to buy a child is a book you love yourself, I said.
I could see that he was thinking.

You could buy them the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones, I told him.
That began a conversation about Abraham and God calling him to move to another place.
He continued with a story about Job.
On and on he went, in his outside voice.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see people looking at the two of us.
One with his cart and custodial equipment, the other with a shopping cart and list.
It was not so much how we looked as much as what we said.
People heard Bible stories whether they wanted to or not.

We ended what proved to be a one-sided conversation.
He did not need my help to choose a book for a child.
He already knew the stories he wanted to tell them.
I began to appreciate his outside voice.

As I reached the back of the store, where the organic section is located I saw him.
The whistler.
The one I see most every week as he stocks the shelves with his product.
He is looking for other work since the job he has is very physical.

Even though he is close to my age, he is looking ahead a few years.
He wants to make a change.
I told him weeks ago that I would pray for a possible interview.
When I saw him again, I asked him how things are going.

Nothing yet, but it’s close, he admitted.
I’m praying for you, I said as he pulled pallets of merchandise into the back room.
I knew you would; thank you, girl, he said, which has always been what he has called me.
All the people in the organic section heard our brief conversation; one woman smiled.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

One man had an outside voice and was not afraid to use it.
The other spoke loudly as he pulled the pallets into the back room.
Those within earshot heard about God and prayer.
Little seeds of faith were planted in a grocery store.

The conversations were not planned.
The people who overheard them were not planned.
However, there is no randomness about God.
God times everything perfectly.

God knows the man with the outside voice is never shy when it comes to talking about Him.
God knows that the man stocking shelves needs encouragement as he makes changes.
Simple conversations between two people are never just between two people.
God is always present; God sovereignly places people within earshot.

Take notice.
You will not seek those conversations out; God will bring those conversations to you.
When He does, just smile and be amazed.
God is up to something.

Isn’t it wonderful that God uses us as part of His plan?
God does not have to use us, but He does.
God delights in hearing us talk about Him.
God makes sure those conversations are heard in just the right place and at just the right time.