“What do you have growing here?” a friend asked as she curiously eyed the little shoots of green stretching above the dark soil of my freshly watered garden.

I paused. I had always wanted a flower garden, so a few weeks before, my friends Vincent and Grace had helped me haul large sacks of manure to prepare a little space in front of my house for the flowers. Vincent and I carefully drew out the rows and planted the little seeds according to the package directions. We waited eagerly, wondering if my American seeds would grow in the Central African soil. While some sprouts looked similar to the depictions on the packaging, others looked a little different. They weren’t weeds, but . . .

“I’m not sure,” I told my friend. “I think these are zinnias. Maybe that one is a marigold?”
“It looks like a tomato,” she observed.

It did look like a tomato plant. However, I hadn’t planted tomatoes, but marigolds.

Time confirmed her suspicion. A few of my imported flowers sprouted and blossomed, but most seeds never germinated. On the other hand, my volunteer tomato plant thrived. I watered it faithfully, building a little moat around it to keep the water close to the roots. Yet months passed, and I still saw nothing but leaves. I wondered if it would actually produce fruit.

About a year before, I had been in the throes of culture shock, struggling daily against loneliness and despondency. During that time, God had spoken to me through Isaiah 51:3, “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” In the months that followed, I could see God answering my prayers and fulfilling His promise by bringing several local friends into my life, one of whom was Vincent.

Vincent is one of the students in the after-school program I taught. He had set himself apart through his deep, probing Bible questions and had started working for me after we helped him replace his belongings after a hut fire (Adventist Frontiers, December 2023). When Vincent came to work, he would often stick around for more Bible study and food for his often-empty stomach. He would ask questions about biblical topics and then compare my responses to what others told him. On other days, he would help me understand the life, culture and practices of his people.

While I appreciated Vincent’s happy disposition, cultural insights, and biblical questions, I sometimes wondered if our time together would actually make a lasting impact on his life. Would he make the biblical principles his own? Or would he be satisfied with a theoretical knowledge of the Word?

As the hot season approached, my close, daily inspection of the tomato plant revealed flowers and . . . a tiny green tomato! I excitedly took pictures and called everyone who visited me to behold the most beautiful tomato on Earth. I continued watering faithfully and watched other green tomatoes develop on my ever-growing plant. I found sticks and strategically posted them around the plant to support the heavy-laden branches. And still, week after week, the tomatoes were all very green.

I wasn’t sure what to do. Would the tomatoes stay green forever? Some may laugh, but I brought my concern to God in prayer. After all, I couldn’t make green tomatoes red, but God could.

Finally, the real heat came. This tomato plant apparently needed the heat to redden those tomatoes, and we picked that first precious tomato a full two months after I first spotted the little yellow blossom. I still remember the day my friends Livy, Vincent, Adam, and I cut that tomato into quarters, sprinkled a little salt on top, and enjoyed it with our dinner.

I found another reason for rejoicing that same hot season when Vincent shared with me that he had decided to get baptized. I can see the fruits of righteousness developing in his young life, and it thrills my heart. At the time of this writing, he has not yet had the opportunity to follow through on his decision for baptism, but he continues to read his Bible regularly and discuss it with his friends. I trust that the God who turns green tomatoes red will finish the work He has begun in his young life. Please continue to pray that Vincent will persevere in his new walk of faith.

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