Listen in and hear Joni share about how a forgotten Bible verse scribbled on a card was a powerful wake up call for her. It’s a beautiful reminder that the harvest is too ripe, and the time is too short to slow down now.
We would love to pray for you! Please send us your requests here.
SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Today, Joni has a great story I just know will inspire you.
JONI: Some years ago, back in [what] the year 2000, I was in Australia serving as the chaplain to the disabled athletes at the Paralympic Games in Sydney. Fred Sorrell, our host, was in charge of organizing our schedule. And so, for two weeks, we were going nonstop! From morning to night, we were either connecting with athletes in the Olympic village, or we were visiting hospitals and churches; I was speaking to groups, large and small, passing out Gospel tracts, witnessing one-on-one to everyone from taxi drivers to wheelchair athletes who were in town to see the Paralympics. I could not believe how busy our schedule was, but I was having a great time. And so was Fred. Still, we were getting tired.
Well, one night on our way back to the hotel after a very late-night meeting, we were just bumping along in the van, and I was with Fred in the back, feeling exhausted but happy. I could see his tired face in the light of oncoming cars. His eyes were at half-mast, and once or twice he almost nodded off. I said to him with a smile, “I bet you’re going to be glad to see the back of us when we leave; then you’ll be able to get some rest,” I told him. To which Fred replied with a grin, “I may be weary, Joni, but I’m a Proverbs 10:5 kind of guy—you’ve got to look it up when you get back to your room.” Well, later, in the room we collapsed in bed without giving Fred’s verse a thought. The next morning, we were up and out the door. Proverbs 10:5 got scribbled on a card and it was forgotten. When I returned to California and was unpacking, I found the card with the verse! And so, I opened my Bible to see what it said and this is what it did say: “He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” Wow!
I smiled to read that, and pictured Fred back in Australia. Fred with his passion for lost souls. I was back home in California, but he was still at it, following up on all the contacts we made, plugging people into churches, discipling those who came to Christ. Even now, so many years later, I know he is still praying, singing, fasting, working on his computer and mobile phone, traveling, witnessing, calling sinners to come home, and shaking the world for Christ. Fred is determined to remain a wise son, all the way through a summer of sowing seeds and well into harvest time. He is not about to disgrace the Holy Spirit and say that he is too tired, or too old, or too used up, or too busy to still be out there, sowing seeds of the good news. Fred is working [I mean that man is working] the fields of harvest.
And Jesus says in John 4:35, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Now is not the time to sleep; it's the time to gather a crop for the kingdom.” And then, John 9:4 says, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Those verses are so energizing, and I feel like Fred. I want to squeeze every ounce of ministry out of my quadriplegic body that I possibly can before the night falls and the harvest is over. And if you look around, the fields around you are white for harvest as well. So, as it says in Galatians 6, “Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
SHAUNA: You’ll find this program and so much more at joniradio.org. Thanks for listening today on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope.
© Joni and Friends