By Greg Miller © 2019

Officially, summer was still a few weeks away.

Torrid summer temperatures, however, had arrived and were prematurely making themselves known to the sections of the world, for which summer was the seasonable season. Lemonade stands were popping up in many neighborhoods across the country, as budding entrepreneurs tried to earn a little extra spending money while helping their neighbors stay cool.

Ziva and her best friend, Zinnia, were planning weekend trips to the beach to take advantage of cool ocean breezes while their sinking toes autographed the always available sandy shores. The young women were planning careers as medical missionaries, and also hoped to spend some time studying.

Ziva’s fiancé, Zion, and his best friend, Zander, were planning to stay at home to pray for Ziva and Zinnia. Zander and Zinnia were also planning to get married.

Zinnia and Ziva had decided to limit their time in the sun to two hours per day. “It’s great to get sun into our bodies,” said Zinnia.

“As long as we don’t overdo it, we’ll be fine,” reasoned Ziva.

As they walked from the beach back to the hotel, Zinnia and Ziva spoke to the people who walked past them. “God bless you,” said Ziva to one couple.

“Yes,” said Zinnia. “We hope you have a blessed day.”

By the time the weekend was over, Zinnia and Ziva had prayed with several people who invited Jesus to live in their hearts. By studying, they had also gained valuable knowledge that would benefit them during their first year of college.

Upon their return home, Ziva and Zinnia gave thanks to the Lord for their successful vacation mission, as they called it. During a testimony time at their church, the young women gave credit to the Lord for their successful trip.

“Several people asked Jesus to forgive their sins,” said Zinnia.

“And they are planning to be baptized next weekend at a church near the beach,” said Ziva.

“One of the couples even talked about enrolling in college to study to become medical missionaries,” said Zinnia.

“They seemed really excited about the possibility of working in careers where they could minister to people’s medical and spiritual needs at the same time,” said Ziva.

Ziva thanked Zion and Zander for their prayers for her and Zinnia while they were at the beach. “We had a wonderful time, and several people asked Jesus to live in their hearts,” said Zinnia, but we know our success was because of your prayers.”

“Thanks, Zinnia,” said Zander. “I’ve always heard that behind every successful Christian woman is a praying Christian man!”

“And behind every successful Christian man is a praying Christian woman!” said Ziva. “Every single time!”

To contact the writer of this column about speaking engagements (in the U.S.A.), including Christian Comedy Fundraising Outreaches, Christian Creativity Seminars and/or puppet ministry, please type “Speaking Engagements” in the subject line and e-mail  [email protected], [email protected]or [email protected].

By Greg Miller  2018

 Greg is retired from the Elizabethton STAR Newspaper, after working there for almost 23 years. He now freelances for the paper. Contact email address is [email protected], also facebook.com/kidcool4jesus. Available for speaking engagements/other ministries. Jesus is Lord