“I don’t think Sandy is a Christian,” I said to Lynne. I wasn’t being judgmental. I was a new Christian myself. I had just found out that I had been what the Marine Corps terms as “deep selected” for promotion to Captain, and no one was more surprised than I was.

I was looking at the Marine Corps list of officers selected for Captain and saw two familiar names on the list: Wayne and Sandy, both classmates of mine at Officer’s Candidate School and The Basic School. I knew Wayne was a Christian, but in my mind, Sandy was “hardcore.” He was also a former enlisted guy who graduated at the top of our class.

Years later, much to my surprise, I ran into Sandy at an Officer’s Christian Fellowship (OCF) function. As we reminisced over the previous five years, neither one of us could have guessed we would find ourselves not only Brothers in Arms but Brothers in Christ as well. We had to agree that it was a good thing we don’t decide who is fit for salvation.

Which brings me to the parable of “the sower.” In Luke Chapter 8, Jesus tells a parable of a sower who sows seed on various types of soil. Some seed fell on the side of the path, some on rocky ground, some in the weeds, and some on fertile ground.

As a kid who lived on a farm, that made no sense to me. A farmer isn’t going to waste seed on anything other than fertile ground. The problem is that we tend to take parables beyond the application they were intended to convey.

Jesus explained to his disciples that “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11, ESV). If I think like a farmer, I am not going to sow seed in all those places where I don’t think it will take root. And that is where I err.

In Isaiah, we see that God operates from a different perspective than we do. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (55:8-9)

It may be foolish for a farmer to throw seed on these different types of ground, but in our passage in Luke, the sower is casting the Word of God, which God says shall not be without success. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

When I came to the Lord, I was a “rocky ground” kind of guy. I was raised in a denominational church. My philosophy at the time was quite simple. I told people, “I believe in God and He believes in me. I don’t bother Him and He doesn’t bother me.” My experience with “born again” Christians wasn’t positive. I did not see it fitting in with my Marine Corps career. Then my twin brother Roger came to visit, and he threw some seed on that rocky ground.

And as happens with every seed, God caused it to take root and grow into a profession of saving faith.

Christians are called to go and make disciples. We are to cast the seed far and wide. We are not to look at the ground but to the One who causes all things to grow according to His divine purposes. What it boils down to in the end is my two most favorite words in the Bible: BUT GOD! We need to go forth with reckless abandonment and sow the seed whenever and wherever the opportunity is provided. God has promised that His Word “shall not return empty.”

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!