Huckleberry Ice Cream?

It began with my husband and I returning home from errands and we were hungry. So, we stopped off at a new restaurant in town. After our meal, the waitress asked if we had room for dessert. We did. We'd had their Huckleberry Ice Cream once before and knew it would be good...and it was. Well, click on the video below to find out how a simple order of Huckleberry Ice Cream led, organically and naturally, into a conversation about religion and then into the Christian faith where God forgives us all our sins through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

I have been teaching how to defend an proclaim the Gospel for almost a year now on Zoom. One thing I emphasize is that we should be ready. I am not saying to go into a restaurant and say, "I'm going to make sure my conversation will get to Christianity." What I am saying is that we should be prayerfully asking God to open up opportunity and give us the right words.

Today, I went to the grocery store, had my mask on which reads, "Here I stand...You stand over there." The check out woman was reading it and laughed. She asked about it. So I shared that the first part was from Martin Luther when he was challenged for his preaching salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and that forgiveness is offered to all. She said, "I'd never hear salvation is by grace alone. Shouldn't we do good works to earn a place in heaven." Well, right there was another opportunity to share. There was no one else on line so we chatted for about 5 minutes and I made sure to emphasize that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and then rose again from the dead on the third day conquering sin, death and the devil for all who believe this really, really good news. I gave her my card (has this blog address on it) and said, If you have any other questions, just contact me through the blog. I'd be happy to answer them for you from the Bible.

Now, I've talked with her before, but at 7am there was no one else around so we had ample time to talk a little bit more. See, this is what day to day proclaiming the good news should look like. Talking with neighbor, friend, family in a casual way, being open to those moments God gives to then share that Jesus paid the price for them and forgiveness is offered in His Name.

Scary? Yes...I still get nervous and my heart pounds. Worth it? Absolutely. Maybe someone else has shared the gospel before and you are watering it or maybe you're planting that seed. Any way you look at it, God promises to cause it to grow.

A simple scoop of huckleberry ice cream opened up the conversation to the Gospel. Who could imaging that? So, today, ask God to open opportunities for you to proclaim and/or defend the Christian faith, keeping in mind He will give you the words to say too and if you get all jumbled up, well remember these five words:

Jesus Christ died for you!