Our town has what they call "First Fridays" which is a street fair that happens the first Friday of each month. Our church participates by being there and selling refreshments. I take my CrossPuzzles. On one occasion, there were these two little kids, probably around 12-years-old, who came up to me. The one kid asked me, "Can I have a dollar?" I said, "Why should I give you a dollar?" to which he answered, "I just need a dollar."
I told him that I would give him a dollar if he could answer me a question. I asked him to tell me what the following is. "What is a multipath, expansible, amorphous, carbohydrate, absorption module, sensitive to differential molecular tension?" After no more than 10 seconds of contemplation he said, "It's not a sponge is it?"
I told him that indeed it was a sponge! And that for that answer I would give him two dollars! After commenting on his obvious brilliance, I told him that I had another puzzle for him. I gave him and his buddies a couple of my CrossPuzzles. Before long there were about 15 of the street kids gathered around, all trying to get these puzzles apart.
Earlier in the evening I had been talking with a man in a wheelchair. Not only was he paralyzed in both legs, but he only had one good, functioning arm. When I saw him sitting eating at a nearby table, I took a puzzle over to him. I had him read the instructions and clues and explained to him that most people can't unlock it by their own efforts. But everyone tries to anyway. In his case however, I said he could easily unlock the puzzle and do it with only his one good hand. He was quite amazed when he did just that!
So, latter, as the boys were trying to get their puzzles apart, this guy in the wheelchair goes rolling by. I hollered at him to come over and show these kids how to unlock the puzzle using only his one good hand. He picks up the puzzle, but before unlocking it, he goes through the whole object lesson about how this cross illustrates that we can't get to God by our own works. God needed to come to us in the form of Jesus so that we could have salvation and have a relationship with God. I don't know if the wheelchair man was even a Christian, but he sure was a quick learner. And when he unlocked the puzzle using only one hand, these kids were in awe. They all wanted to have a puzzle to take home and challenge and amaze their friends.
That is the kind of reception that I have found with this puzzle. It doesn't make me a lot of money, but it certainly lets me connect in places where I normally would be not be connected!
Ken, your stories are always intriguing as to how God uses you. You need to write these down and publish them in a book. Think you could do it? :)
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