By Joseph Perry

Did you know that an onion has power?

It really does. I didn’t know that one onion, which is a widely cultivated vegetable closely related to garlic, has so much power.

It has been said that an onion is packed with nutrients and high in vitamins and minerals. It is also loaded with antioxidants and contains cancer fighting compounds. An onion has the power to help control blood sugar levels.

I love a little bit of onions in most of my food. My wife was going to make up some hamburgers for me when she found out at the last minute that we were out of onions. She knows I love eating her hamburgers with the added ingredient of onions.

We had just finished picking up groceries, and we had drove 15 minutes toward our home. She said to me, “I just remembered. We didn’t get any onions.” I turned the car around, and drove 15 minutes back in town for one onion. She said, “I can’t believe you’re going all the way back for an onion.”

Well, when I got back to the grocery store, I met an old co-worker who I had not seen in more than 10 years, who said he didn’t know I was pastoring in Suffolk. He said he needed to get his life stabilized, and he needed a place to go to church, so he wants to come and be a regular in attendance at my church. While talking to him, I got so excited that I almost backed into another couple in the store, and they were looking for a church, and then shared their testimony of all they were going through in life, in tears. They said, “We need to visit your church. Can we come next Sunday?”

The Lord can use anything or anyone to bring people your way. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an onion. He sent us back to the grocery store to share Jesus. He sent us back to give someone hope and life. He sent us back to witness and encourage. He knows the right place and the right time to bring it all together. The power of the onion did more than season my hamburgers — it blessed and seasoned people’s lives.

Sometimes, the Lord leads you to do the unusual or turn a different way. He may have you to go back in the same direction from which you came. Sometimes it won’t even make sense. However, He could be doing it so that He can get glory out of it all. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Let’s keep praying that we can draw people as we are drawn to Him.

Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Perry is pastor of St. Mark AME Zion Church. Email him at josephp134@gmail.com.