On Saturday, March 09, 2013, the Milwaukee Seed Sowers handed out a special tract for St. Patrick Trivia at the downtown Milwaukee St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the country. As the group went down the parade route many hearty souls were reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Luke 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. ²⁵ But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. ²⁶ And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. ²⁷ They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; ²⁹ But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. ³⁰ Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. ³¹ In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. ³² Remember Lot’s wife. ³³ Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. ³⁴ I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. ³⁵ Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ³⁶ Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ³⁷ And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

I’m really struck by what Jesus is saying in Luke 17: ²⁷ They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; ²⁹ But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

The world continues on with no attention to eternity. They ate, they drank, they partied but never giving consideration to when death will come. Then what? When will death come? It could come tomorrow or the next day. Psalm 90:10 states The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

That’s the big question now isn’t it? When will we fly away and to where will we fly away to? Some will say that they’ll go six feet under. Some say that they’ll be reincarnated. Some will say heaven. Not many will say hell.

Testimonies from the Seed Sowers:

Yes, I met with the group on 4th & Wisconsin approx. 10:55 AM, they gave me plenty of tracks.  it was very windy so I decided  to go into the Grand Avenue and get coffee, of course handing out tracks all the way. Inside the mall was a St. Patrick’s program so I handed tracks out to those sitting, I think they thought it was part of the program.  I went back to 4th & Wisconsin and the group was gone so I headed east on Wisconsin to about 1st or 2nd street on my own.  75% of the people accepted tracks and were grateful. I did not witness much because I would have felt more comfortable with 2 people, as recommended. I handed out approx. 60-70 tracks and left @ approx. 11:55. It was a blessing and I defiantly will be joining you guys again. Keep up the good work and may God continue to bless you! – Karen

While the conversations were lacking on our end, the response was great.  The tracts were gratefully received, and as I came across people that had already received them many asked for more for family and friends.  The crowd was pleasant and receptive and willingly took all of the tracts that I had with me.  I went through all the St. Patrick’s quiz’s I had, all my millions, specialty catholic tracts, and assorted others.  I even was able to hand out a handful of Spanish Are you readies.  Angie noticed that the crowd was dressed up and ready for the theme of the day, and was greatly encouraged by people’s readiness to take the St Patrick’s quiz.  People were excited at the idea of a quiz to take as they waited for the parade.  Over all it was a great day.  We would like to thank all who attended for the time of fellowship and to say what a blessing it was to fish with you all.  We look forward to this next weekend in Erin.  We are keeping it and you all in our prayers. – Jon

We started with about 800 bookmarks (plus the 300 that Tom brought) at the start side of the parade route, and split them between the two sides. On the North side of the street we handed out almost all of the ones I brought (I gave the last 5 to a security officer at the building where I parked when he asked for more after I handed him the first one). The rejection rate was much lower than any other tract I have given out. I think the quiz that was specific to the parade is a great idea. Perhaps we should do other short quizzes for other parades (Saint Nicholas (Christmas), Pilgrims (Thanksgiving), Founding Fathers (4th of July)).

I approached a group of people that were off the path and offered them the quiz, but they said they had already received some. While I was still standing near by they pulled the tract out of their pocket to show me and said “See, We do have them. I wanted to show you we were not breaking the commandment about lying.” The explained how they had read the entire thing. I then asked if they had told any lies today. One of the women said “No”, and the rest of her friends started laughing and giving examples of things she was being less than honest about this morning.

Another group had received a tract from me, and when I crossed their path again later they stopped me to affirm and thank us for what we were doing. However it was hard to tell exactly what they were saying because they obviously already had too many beers. – Randy

We really didn’t get into any extensive conversations, but we handed out all 300 tracts. If we had more we would have handed more out. We grabbed lunch quick and headed home before the parade was over. Chloe handed a tract to Mayor Barrett. He can never say that someone didn’t hand him the gospel to look at and think through personally. – Tom