From Shoveling with a Stranger to Worshiping with a Brother
I suppose that it has been somewhere around forty years since the suggestion was made. I lived in a small community and was preaching for a relatively small church. The good people of this church had taken a chance on a fellow with absolutely no experience in “full-time preaching.”
I decided that one way I could serve would be to conduct a regular Bible class at the only nursing home in town. I didn’t realize that somebody besides the residents was listening to that class.
I found out that this was the case when the lady who served as the activity director approached me with the following suggestion: “You need to talk to my husband.” I was grateful then and I’m grateful now that her request was prompted by some of the things that she had heard me say when she “eavesdropped” on my classes with the residents.
I only knew the lady because of our association at the nursing home. I did not really know her husband very well at all. After all of these years, I’m not really sure if we had met. All I know is that I wanted to honor the wife’s request.
Armed with their home address and the information about his day off, I went out in the county for my first visit with the husband. I really had no idea how (or if) I would be received.
When I pulled into the driveway, my “prospect” was shoveling a fairly large pile of gravel. I quickly learned that he was not having a very good day.
A gravel truck was supposed to have spread its contents on the driveway earlier that day, but things had not gone as planned. Instead of spreading the gravel, the truck had left the driveway and had gotten stuck in some softer ground. The driver’s solution was to dump the gravel in one large pile and drive away.
The man with the shovel in his hand knew enough about me to know that I was a preacher. I guess that’s why his “greeting” to me was, “Preacher, if you’re going to talk to me, you need to be shoveling gravel.”
While I was not dressed in my usual Sunday attire, I was also not exactly dressed in “gravel shoveling clothes.” As I remember it, the temperature that day was also not exactly optimal for shoveling gravel or for any other similar work. There were several reasons why I could have respectfully declined his invitation.
However, that was not the choice I made. I chose to accept his invitation and said, “Hand me a shovel.” As it turned out, he did, indeed, have another shovel.
He also made sure I had in my hands in fairly short order. After all of these years, I can’t remember if I was glad or sad about that at the time.
What I am absolutely sure of now, though, is that I could not be more thrilled that he had an extra shovel. That shovel gave me an opportunity I might not have otherwise had to talk with him.
It might have been the case that we were not much more than acquaintances at that point, but a relationship was developing. Over time, that relationship grew into a friendship.
As the friendship grew, we had some serious conversations about the Bible and some opportunities to study its contents. To make what may already be a story that is too long a little shorter, those conversations and study led to him being baptized into Christ and being much more than a friend. For decades now, we have been brothers in Christ.
Now – here is (again a somewhat shortened version) some of the rest of the story –
My family and I moved away from that community sometime after all of this took place. We have lived in two other states since then. I never really thought about the possibility that this brother and I would ever live in the same community again.
The Lord may have had other plans. My friend (and brother) and his wife also moved from that community a few years ago. They also moved to another state. They moved to the same state as the one in which we now live. In fact, they moved into the same town as the one in which we live.
It gets even better than that. When I assemble to worship with our church family now, one member of that family is a man with whom I shoveled a lot of gravel one day. What a blessing!
I’ve had a lot of different experiences during the past forty years. I’ve (hopefully) learned some things from those experiences. Here are just a few of the things I learned as a result of shoveling some gravel:
- If God can use an inexperienced preacher and a shovel, he can use all sorts of people in all kinds of circumstances.
- Who knows what can be accomplished if/when we establish relationships with people?
- There are virtually no limits to the surprises that take place during the twists and turns we make on our journey through this life.
- I need to be constantly and consistently on the alert for – and aware of – opportunities.
- A preacher’s job is not limited to what he does in his study and/or behind the pulpit (and no Christian’s responsibility is limited to attending worship services).
- I might have the opportunity to spend eternity in heaven with somebody who is, at the present time, a stranger to me.
- Some physical exertion and some dirty clothes are small prices to pay for the opportunity to help a precious soul inherit eternal life.
Again, those are just a few of the ideas that come to my mind from this experience of mine. Maybe you have your own.
If that is not the case, then hopefully, my experience will encourage you to make some similar memories.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
