And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 NKV)
We went to a grocery store called Trader Joe’s. I am not accustomed to the area in which this store is located. Looking at the workers, I could see that it would not be an easy place to talk about Jesus.
There was an item that we could not find. When we got to the checker’s area, the lady working it asked us if we found everything we were looking for. I told her that there was an organic product that we used to purchase, but that it was not on the shelf at that time. She reached over to a bell by the register and gave the string in it a couple of pulls; it rang twice.
I thought, “Does this lady know Jesus, and how am I going to tell her about Him? There are so many customers!” Quickly, a young man came in answer to the bell’s rings. The cashier told him what we were looking for. Again I thought, “Lord, is he the one You are after to tell about You?”
The young man rushed to an aisle to look for the item. He came back quickly with an item, but it was the wrong one. He went out quickly again, scanned the shelves, looked toward us, and shook his head no. The item was not there. There were now more customers. The young man was too far away for me to talk to. And now more customers were lined up in front of the cashier. So, I was not able to talk to her or the young man about Jesus.
As my husband was leading the way out of the store, I told the Lord, “Lord, I could not tell that young lady or man about You.” I looked up and there were grocery carts lined up on the sidewalk. At the end of the line of carts, stood a young man. He was helping people by giving them a cart. I thought, “Lord, there was no one that You were after inside. Maybe it is this young man. Is this the one, Lord? I will give it a try.”
The day was a beautiful, sunny one. The young man was wearing a worker’s yellow security vest. There was no one standing by him. I approached him carefully and calmly. I looked at his name tag and addressed him by his name.
“Hello. How are you?” I asked him.
“I’m fine. Thank you,” he said.
“It’s such a beautiful day to be working outside,” I commented.
“Yes, it is,” he responded. Still, no one came around where he was for a cart.
“What do you think about, while you are standing here alone?” I inquired, looking into his eyes.
His answer surprised me. “I think about life.” That was my key to talk to him about Jesus because his soul was hungry and thirsty. He needed an answer to life. He didn’t need the bread in a grocery store. He needed Jesus, the bread of life!
“Well, you know whom you can talk to about your thoughts about that?” I asked.
“Who?” he asked.
“God. Do you ever think about God?” I boldly asked.
“Yes, I do,” he responded.
“Do you know who He is?” I asked.
His answer, again, was not the usual. “That’s a good question. I don’t,” he seriously responded.
Now my heart was racing. “Would you like to know who He is?” I asked.
He rubbed his hands together, a little nervously. I was nervous too. I wasn’t sure what to say. I had to take confidence in Jesus. “First, you have to understand how much God loves you. He gave his Son, Jesus, on the cross because of His love for you, to die for your sins and mine. He loves you! Now, you have to talk with Him and ask Him to be your Saviour. Would you like to do this? I will help you. Would you like to pray?” I nervously continued. I was not sure how he would respond. No one had approached him for a cart, so there was still time to finish our conversation. “Oh, Lord, please don’t let anyone ask him for a cart,” I prayed.
Then he replied, “Yes, I would.”
I was so nervous still. “Okay, let’s pray.” He put his hands together, stood still, and we began to pray.
After he believed in Jesus and gave his life to Him, he shook my hand and thanked me. I asked him if he had a Bible. He said that he did. We talked about where to start reading about the God who now lived inside of him.
I walked toward the car. My husband was putting the groceries into the car. He looked at me. I was smiling and crying. He smiled and said, “I knew where that was going.”
“I didn’t know what to expect, but he prayed, and he is saved now,” I said with tears.
“That’s like Claudia. Just walk up to someone and tell them about Jesus, thinking nothing of it, just another day at work. You are something else!” He started laughing. I laughed at his perspective and then cried again, because that experience was so sweet! Jesus had just saved another soul!
“Abba, Father, what was I supposed to do? I can’t walk or stand for long. I could not walk up to people in the crowd. I might get tripped or something. Jesus, Bread of Life, how is it that this young man was standing alone at the end of a line of grocery carts hungering and thirsting for the One that he did not know – You! Surely this was an opportunity for his soul to be saved. And it was! Had it not been for Your Holy Spirit, what would I say, how would I respond? I needed help, and You sent Him to do the work to save his soul. Jesus, thank You for standing by me and strengthening me.”