Month: July 2022

Enjoy this guest post by Sandy Tipton.

Twenty years or so ago I went to a Mary Kay party at a friend’s house. The seller did a satin hands demo, which I enjoyed immensely, and at the end of the evening I felt compelled to buy the set. The whole thing was an enjoyable, no pressure experience, after which for about 5 minutes I thought that maybe I should sell Mary Kay. I even purchased the $100 start up kit without giving the whole thing much thought.

The kit purchase was quickly followed with a meeting from a Mary Kay selling coach (definitely not the actual label, but you get the idea) who was supposed to be teaching me tips for selling Mary Kay. I became very uncomfortable when she told me to think of every person I’ve Ever Known and make a list of those people so I could reach out to to make connections that could lead to sales.

As I started thinking about all the people I’ve ever known and haven’t spoken to in years and the possibility of me reaching out with hopes of eventually selling Mary Kay, I told my “coach” how uncomfortable that made me, and, “What if people thought I was nice to them just because I was trying to sell something.” And also, I believed sharing the gospel of Christ with people was so much more important than selling Mary Kay, yet I’d never made a list of people to study God’s word with. I’ll never forget what the woman told me. She said, “You can use Mary Kay as your wagon to take Christ to the world.”

(I’m sure someone can actually do that, and I love Mary Kay and my friends who sell it, but in that moment, less than 24 hours after I bought my start up kit, I decided I was Not a salesperson, and no, I was not going to use Mary Kay as my wagon to take Christ to the world).

So. All of that being said. I ask myself 20 something years later, have I indeed done a great job of taking Christ to the world?

This past week I was in my kitchen cooking and the words to a song were going through my head, “…When in the better land before that bar you stand, how deeply grieved our souls will be, if any lost one there should cry in deep despair, you never mentioned Him to me.”

That song haunts me. I’m a people person. I literally LOVE people. I love my friends. I love the baristas at Starbucks. I love my employees. I love the cashiers and waitresses at any random grocery stores/ restaurants. I love people.

But have I shared the most important aspect of my life with them? As an admitted non salesperson, I’m also non pushy (I think… right?) so I think, “I don’t want to push my beliefs on anyone and I think people are good with that.” Lol

Well, something huge happened today that I needed to share…. With Everyone….. At least everyone within driving distance of my Kroger. Kroger has BLUE BELL HALF GALLONS ON SALE FOR 3.77!!!!! I threw away frozen vegetables to make room for SIX cartons!!! I was so excited, and I knew I had to tell EVERYONE, and then I thought about Mary Kay, and the song, and thought, “How can I tell everyone about Blue Bell without telling Everyone about Christ???”

So, here I am. I know Everyone wants Blue Bell, but maybe everyone doesn’t want Christ, and I have major holdups because I think I’m not good enough or prepared enough to share the gospel, BUT I do know exactly what a person needs to do to be saved, and I do know that every single one of us is lost without Christ. It doesn’t matter how big or “small” or pretty or ugly yours/ my sin is. Every single one of us is lost without Christ.

So, go get some Blue Bell from Kroger if you live in Texas and lmk if you want to study the Bible together. I apologize if I’ve never asked you before.

I also apologize if you don’t live in Texas, but we can still study together if you want. Better yet, you can come visit me. I bought six things of Blue Bell, and I’ll share (my waistline will thank you), and we can study together.

(Sandy Tipton lives in Fort Worth, TX, and is Neal’s first cousin.)