I was ordering my usual "healthy" diet —fast food. As is my custom, after paying for my meal, I handed the clerk, a young woman in her twenties, a Chick tract. "Here, you'll enjoy the cartoon when you have your break."

The vast majority of the time, I get the same reaction. "Oh, thanks! I'll read this." Then the tract goes into a back pocket. Once in a while, a clerk will tell me, "We have a whole stack of these under the counter, so everyone gets to read them." But not this time.

She looked at the tract in my hand, then pulled her hand back, saying "No thanks."

Hmmm. That one doesn't happen often. But I was not the least discouraged. You see, one glance at the tract told her what it was. She knew full well what she was refusing.

I immediately understood several things:

1. She had read at least one of the other tracts I had left (Chick tracts get read!). She knew what was in it.
2. She had understood God's claims on her life and had said "No." She didn't want to be reminded again.
3. I had succeeded in doing what Jesus commanded me to do, to "preach" the Gospel. She had gotten the message —and made a personal decision.

I know that some day she will kick herself in anguish as she remembers her poor choice to reject Christ. But she will know that someone told her. She had her chance.

You see, everyone needs a chance. What they do with that chance is up to them. But Jesus made clear to me that I must give them that chance.

If they reject it, just like they rejected Him, that is the choice that the Lord allows them to make. A poor choice. But He doesn't let me off the hook to witness just because I might not get the percent return on my tracts I would like. He said "preach!"

Chick Publications gets so many notes from people who had that chance but turned it down. Yet, God wasn't done with them. He kept after them, convicting them, reminding them of the tract, until they finally gave in to Jesus.