I was walking down life’s highway a long time ago.
One day I saw a sign that read, “HEAVEN’S GROCERY STORE.”

As I got a little closer the door came open wide,
and when I came to myself I was standing there inside.

I saw a host of ANGELS standing everywhere.
One handed me a basket and said, “My child, shop with care.”

Everything a  Christian needed was in that store.
If you didn’t have enough room in your cart, you could always come back for more.

First, I got some PATIENCE: LOVE was in the same row.
Further down was UNDERSTANDING; you need that everywhere you go.

I got a box or two of wisdom, a bag or two of faith.
I couldn’t miss the HOLY SPIRIT– it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE to help me run this race.
By then my basket was getting full, but I remembered I needed some GRACE.

I didn’t forget SALVATION, for SALVATION was free,
so I tried to get  enough of that to save both you and me.

Then I started up to the counter to pay my grocery bill.
I thought I had most everything to do the MASTER’S will.

As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER: and I just had to put that in,
for I knew that when I stepped outside, I would run into sin.

PEACE and JOY were plentiful; they were last on the shelf.
SONG and PRAISE  were hanging near, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel, “How much do I owe?”
He smiled and said, “Just  take them everywhere you go.”

Again, I smiled and said, “How much do I really owe?”
He smiled again and said, “MY CHILD, JESUS  PAID YOUR BILL A LONG, LONG TIME AGO.”

“You can count the apples on the tree, but who can count the apples in a seed?” goes the old aphorism. So it is with the influence of a single person. Take Edward Kimball, for an example. Never heard of him? I’m not surprised. Kimball was a Sunday school teacher who not only prayed for the often rowdy boys in his class but also sought to win each one to the Lord. If Kimball ever felt like giving up, he never talked about it. But, human nature being what it is, the thought must have come to him more than once. One young man, in particular, didn’t seem to understand what the gospel was about so Kimball went to the shoe store where he was stocking shelves and confronted him in the stock room with the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That young man was Dwight L. Moody! In the stockroom on that Saturday, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. In his lifetime, Moody touched two continents for God, with untold thousands coming to faith in Jesus Christ!

But the story doesn’t end there. Actually that’s where it begins. Under Moody, another man’s heart was touched for God, Wilbur Chapman! Chapman became the evangelist who preached to thousands. One day, a professional ball player had a day off and attended one of Chapman’s meetings, and thus, Billy Sunday was converted!

Sunday quit baseball and became part of Chapman’s team. Then, Chapman accepted the pastorate of a large church and Billy Sunday began his own evangelistic crusades. Are you beginning to understand why you can’t count the apples in a seed?

Another young man was converted whose name was Mordecai Ham! He was a scholarly, dignified gentleman who wasn’t above renting a hearse and parading it through the streets advertising his meetings. When Ham came to Charlotte, North Carolina, a sandy-haired, lanky young man, then in high school, vowed that he wouldn’t go hear him preach, but Billy Frank, as he was called by his family, did eventually go. Ham announced that he knew for a fact that a house of ill repute was located across the street from the local high school and that male students were skipping lunch to visit the house across the street. When students decided to go to interrupt the meetings of Mordecai Ham, Billy Frank decided to go see what would happen. That night Billy Frank went and was intrigued by what he heard. Returning another night, he responded to the invitation and was converted. Billy Frank eventually became known as Billy Graham, the evangelist who preached to more people than any other person who ever lived, including the Apostle Paul!

This fascinating chain of events was triggered by a Sunday school teacher’s concern for his boys. Are you ever tempted to think that what you are doing doesn’t count or nobody pays any attention to you? How many Sunday school teachers and pastors of small churches wonder if anyone is listening? A mother recently, said, “I keep on trying to tell my children about the Lord, but I don’t think they ever hear me.” The fact is, God doesn’t depend on angels or supernatural beings to spread the Good News. He uses ordinary people, and when ordinary people are faithful in doing the simple task, God does extra-ordinary things through them.

Next time you are tempted to give up, please remember Edward Kimball, whose persistence and faithfulness was tremendously honored by the Lord! How different our world might have been if Edward Kimball did not take his Saturday to seek out young Dwight Moody. Yes, how different! You can count the apples on a tree, but only God knows how many apples are in a single seed.

As we find in the Bible, the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” (that is the Christ). He brought him to Jesus (John 1:41-42)!

What do Heinz ketchup and steak sauce have to do with sharing Christ? What most people do not know is that Mr. Heinz was wonderful at sharing his faithr. One day a visiting preacher cornered him in church. “You are a Christian, but with all your energy, why aren’t you up and at it for the Lord?”

Mr. Heinz went home angry. The preacher’s question had made him mad. But that night, Mr. Heinz could not sleep. Finally, at four o’clock in the morning, he asked God to make him a faithful and zealous soul winner. Later, at a meeting of bank presidents, Mr. Heinz turned to the man next to him – one who had been his friend for years – and told him about Jesus. His friend looked at him in amazement and said, “I wondered many times why you never spoke to me about this if you really believed in Christ.”

That man became the first of 267 people that Mr. Heinz led into a personal relationship with Christ. He became a faithful and zealous witness, personally sharing the Gospel with people from all walks of life. All because he took the challenge and the opportunity to share his faith.