Great encouragement 14 years later

As a Relay worker with UCCF at Birmingham University I invested a fair amount of time in helping to run the CU's Just Looking programme. As far as I can recall this involved (each week) doing a couple of hours work alone on a passage in John's gospel, then meeting with Dave, the evangelism secretary, for a couple of hours, then meeting for a couple of hours with a small group of students who helped Dave and I to run the show, then holding (each Monday after lectures as I recall) the Just Looking training for an hour and a half. My memory is a bit foggy but I think there were between 10 and 30 leaders from the CU in each cycle.

I remember really enjoying it. I loved getting into John's gospel (much of which I have gone back to again and again, most recently last night). I enjoyed working with Dave, a student leader of energy and vision (if you're reading this Dave Wright, get in touch!). I loved having regular contact with the young and enthusiastic servants of God who wanted to reach their friends with the Just Looking tool. And I enjoyed leading two groups of strangers as mission follow up.

I only ever got to meet one person who was converted through it, although I heard stories and rumours of others.

Anyway, yesterday one of them was in our house for lunch!

She and her husband (who I'd known a little at Birmingham) were visiting another work in Athens and we arranged to meet up because of the Birmingham connection and some cross-over in our work now. At the end of lunch I asked how she'd become a Christian, and to my amazement it was through the Just Looking course another student who I remember working with had run for her alone in her hall of residence (my old one, Lake-Wydd if any Brummies are reading this).

How great is that. The farmer sows the word. Indeed - and years later I had the privilege of seeing part of the harvest.

The encouragements from this are on so many levels. The work we put in, the faithfulness of the first year student who reached out to someone who wasn't even her friend at the time, the growth into maturity in the years since, the other testimonies she was able to pass on of others who were also converted (four or five in that hall alone, at least some of who she is still in touch with), and of course the faithfulness of the one who makes the seed grow.

It brought a lump to my throat as I heard the story and reminded me (again) to keep indiscriminately sowing the word.