Giving and getting at the front door

All sorts of jobs need doing in a home and people selling household products can make very helpful visits if one’s stocks are low.

Over recent months we’ve had half-a-dozen visits from young men with bulging rucksacks selling dusters, oven gloves, etc. They’re usually from depressed areas of the north of England and they turn up just as dinner is going on the table. They’re always very polite and show their credentials, often telling us they’re recently out of prison.

My instinct is to tell them I don’t need anything more as our road has recently been visited by several of their colleagues. They tend to ignore this and press on with their selling spiel.

Not wishing to send them away, I said to my husband “we’ve got to find another way to help these boys besides buying items from them we don’t need and sending them on their way.”

Turning to God for some light, the idea came to me that maybe God was bringing them to our front door not simply to sell, but to receive something more lasting.

So I suddenly thought I’d do a fair exchange. I would buy something and they would take a Sentinel in return! I immediately stockpiled a selection of Sentinels in a drawer next to the front door.

When the next young man called I explained if I didn’t need anything I would buy one of his products and give it to our local charity shop to bless others - and give him a copy of our magazine.

Handing the young man the Sentinel, I explained it was nothing to do with Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses. I pointed out where to find the testimonies and said it could change his life as it had changed mine.

He told me he had just been baptised at a Church in Brighton and would definitely read the magazine as he eagerly leafed through it.

The next young man to arrive a week or so later seemed delighted that someone was prepared to give him something helpful rather than regretfully closing the front door on him.

What was interesting was that I had been praying about how I could do more to share Christian Science with those I met as, in recent years, this hadn’t been happening.

So now when the doorbell rings I dash to open the front door rather than calling from an upstairs window to see who it is and telling them “Sorry, I don’t need anything.”


Explore More Living It Posts