We do not need a green car

The fourth verse in a hymn I love says:

I jog/walk most mornings, Monday to Friday. It’s a great practice that has added to my discipline and subtracted my kgs and laziness. If you see someone huffing and puffing on a major highway in Kajiado County, that is me. Throw me peanuts or bananas like a monkey; I am usually fighting for my life. Running is one of those hobbies that is just torture. We also don’t know why we do it. We just run, and if we do not, the body starts threatening to sue us.

Today, something rather interesting happened. I made the U-turn at my usual place after the hill that made me believe I have lungs and that they work. While starting my jog/walk back, I saw a man sitting on a small heap of rocks under an acacia tree. He was smoking, the smoke rushing out of his lungs and into the crisp Kajiado air like it was happy to escape. My dad was a chain smoker; I am used to the smell of cigarettes. I can tell if you are smoking Sportsman or Supermatch by the smell.

My first thought was to go and tell him how smoking is bad for his health, and it will give him lung cancer. Well, it did not give my dad lung cancer. But then I thought, he has already heard that enough times.

The second thought that came to mind very strongly was that I should go and talk to him about Jesus and salvation. As these thoughts were going through my mind, I did not stop walking away. I kept putting one leg in front of the other as I debated how I should have obeyed that voice. But I kept walking.

I was now halfway down the hill, further and further away from him. Another thought came to mind: If this were me with a group of people on ‘a mission,’ I would have stopped and talked to that man. I would have seized that opportunity and talked to him because I was ‘on a mission,’ But I kept walking.

Lord, give me a sign

I started asking Jesus for a sign that I should go and talk to him. I thought, “If a green car shows up, I will know you want me to go talk to that man.” Foolishness. A silver car came, then a red car, then a white car. I kept walking. I was now asking God to forgive me for my disobedience and to give me another chance tomorrow. The audacity! I was still walking, and the man was still sitting there puffing on his cigarette. Ahead of me was a bridge and a bend. I had not yet seen the green car that was supposed to be a sign that I should go and tell the Gospel to a man sitting by the road. I kept walking.

Then, right at the beginning of the bridge and around the bend, I saw coming before me a huge lorry. It was green! I don’t think I have ever seen a green lorry before! I paused, looked right and left, and crossed the road. I knew I had to go back and speak with that man. I kept praying that he wouldn’t leave before I got there. He rose up to speak with another man before I got there, but he didn’t leave. I reached him, introduced myself and my salvation status, and spoke with him about how we have been bought at a price, and we are valuable in God’s eyes. I told him that Jesus loved him enough to die for him, and asked him if he would accept the Lord for the forgiveness of his sins. (1 Corinthians 6:20; Luke 12:7).

I hadn’t carried my Bible or phone on the jog; I just spoke the scripture that was in my heart. His greatest concern was which church I go to. I made it clear I wasn’t preaching a denomination, but just Jesus and the price He paid for him—for all of us—on the cross (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). I prayed with him and asked if he wanted to give his life to Jesus. He said we should talk more tomorrow.

The seed was planted. I walked away knowing that the seed did not fall on his heart in vain (1 Corinthians 3:6; Isaiah 55:11). Edu will soon proclaim Jesus as his Savior.

The call to go and make disciples has already been made (Matthew 28:19–20) “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That’s the sign you need to go preach the Gospel. We do not need a green car. We just need to go. Go.

The rest of the hymn says:

Hark! the voice of Jesus calling, “Who will go and work today?

Fields are white, the harvest waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away?”

Loud and long the Master calls out, Rich reward he offers free:

Who will answer, gladly saying, “Here am I, send me, send me.”

If you cannot cross the ocean, And the foreign lands explore,

You can find the needy nearer, You can help them at your door.

If you cannot give in thousands, You can give the widow’s mite,

And the least you give for Jesus, Will be precious in his sight.

If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus, You can say he died for all.

If you cannot rouse the wicked, With the judgment’s dread alarms,

You may lead the little children, To the Savior’s waiting arms.

Let none hear you idly saying, “There is nothing I can do,”

While the lost of Earth are dying, And the Master calls for you.

Take the task he gives you gladly; Let his work your pleasure be.

Answer quickly when he’s calling, “Here am I, send, send me.”