Cotton Candy Evangelism

For the second year in a row, I had the awesome experience of fishing for men at Lafayette, Louisiana's Mardi Gras celebration this year. Last year, it was a blast. I had some very interesting conversations throughout the entire Mardi Gras day.

This year was, well, different. I was battling losing my voice, among other health issues. But I was determined. Up and down Johnston Street I walked, making excuse after excuse and not talking to anybody. I walked for over an hour up one side of the crowded street and down the other.

Then, something happened. "COTTON CANDY! YOU KNOW YOU WANT SOME! COME AND GET IT! COTTON CANDY!" I mean, this lady was relentless. Unashamed. Fearless. Over cotton candy.

Here I am, with the words of eternal life and the power of the Holy Spirit, coming to deliver something far sweeter than cotton candy. Yet excuse after excuse kept me from being bold for Jesus Christ. Yet this woman is shouting with everything she has to get people to buy cotton candy?

The fishing wasn't as exciting as it was the year before. From the world's vantage point, it wasn't very "fruitful" at all. We often ask about our evangelism, "Was it effective?" The proper question is: "Was it biblical?" Nobody listened to many of the prophets in the bible. But they did God's will, God's way, and results often come in secret, where we don't see them. I'm just a seed planter. God saves people. I'm just a mailman delivering a message. I plant, somebody else may water it, but God brings the increase.

Now, though, when I think of chickening out (and I often do), I'll think about the boldness and enthusiasm of that cotton candy lady and remember that the Gospel is far sweeter than that cotton candy. If she can be bold about cotton candy, I will not be ashamed of the Gospel.