The Little Girl Who Shot At Her Sister...

...and what eventually happened to her...

It is very easy to take greatness for granted if you've had a harrowing morning getting the family ready for church.  By the time I arrived at Sunday school that morning and flopped into my seat, I thought greatness was just making sure my son had both shoes on…and that they both matched!

I was surprised to find that there was a missionary at church that day. When she was introduced to the class, she glanced easily about the room and seemed to take us all in.

A young lady standing up in front of the adult Sunday school class in a fundamental Baptist church is very unusual, but she seemed to take it all in stride.  Tracy Marks, single missionary to Africa, was telling her story.

“I was raised in a hunter’s home,” she began.  I sensed even the male varieties amongst us were eager to hear more.  “My Dad was a big hunter, and there were lots of weapons in our house.  He took the time to teach each of us the importance of respecting the weapons, so that by the time we were four years old, we were allowed to have our own bow and arrow, as long as we didn’t shoot each other!”  A ripple of laughter gently waved through the listeners.

“One day when I was four, I got angry with my sister, and I shot the arrow at her!  I didn’t hit her, but I sure did get in trouble.  So what happens when you do something wrong in a Christian home?  I got a spanking! 

“As I was lying in my bed, crying, suddenly everything my parents and Sunday School teacher had been trying to tell me all came together, and I realized I was a sinner.  So, on my bed, I stopped crying and prayed and asked the Lord to forgive me of my sins.”

Tracy smiled and continued, “So, parents and grandparents…you keep doing what you know is right!  You never know – someday it may lead to your children’s salvation!”

I glanced at my children sitting by me in church and wondered if one of them could be a future missionary.  Surely in the midst of tousled hair, madness and mayhem, there was the seed bed for greatness.  Why, if arrows can fly and still missionaries can come from it, then I know that God can use us!