Month: August 2008

This post is a continuation of last post from 8-3-08. (Read that one first.)

About thirty minutes had passed. We were total strangers–still sitting a few tables apart from each other–having a great conversation about spiritual things (and adding quite a bit of interest to the cafe)! It’s awesome when the Lord arranges opportunities like this.

As our conversation in the Starbucks cafe continued, my “new friend” eventually came and joined me at my table. He brought up the subject of “resurrection” and life after death.
I explained how I am 100% sure that I’m going to Heaven, but that it’s not because I’m a good person; it’s because I believe the Bible when it says ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’ (Rom 10:13) and ‘these things I have written unto you who believe on the Lord that you may know you have eternal life…’ (1 John 5:13) [emphasis added]

There were about 10 other people in the small café pretending to read the newspaper, but I had a feeling most of them were listening to us.

My feelings were confirmed when another lady came up to our table and said, “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but your conversation was just so interesting! I just wanted to know what you were talking about.”
“Have a seat!” I offered.

Now there were three of us sitting around the table.
I asked her the same question: “Do you think eternal life is a free gift or something you have to earn?”
“Oh my, honey, you gotta earn it” she said. “You gotta work for it every day, doin what’s right, being a good person…”
“So how do you know when you’ve been good enough?” I asked.
“Well, if you’ve been a good person all your life, then you can pretty much just know that you’re going to heaven.”
“But” I said, “where does God actually draw the line between good people and bad people?”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
“Well, we may think that we are a good person compared to someone else we know, but we can’t just compare with those around us because God’s standards are higher than ours.”
“Well, you tell me what you think then,” she told me.
“Ok” I said. 🙂
I shared—again—the good news that we don’t have to earn our salvation, using the example of the thief on the cross. When he believed on Jesus, Jesus told him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. But the thief hadn’t even done one good work to get there. Not one! And even if the thief had done thousands of good works, it wouldn’t have gotten him into Heaven. He needed his sin to be paid for, and only Jesus could do that.

“That’s right,” the lady agreed emphatically, “You can’t get there on your own, no, no, we need God’s forgiveness!”
Hmmm…. I thought, She just said the opposite a few minutes ago. I wonder if she really understands.
So I said, “But if God is a just Judge, He can’t simply forgive anyone just like that. A truly good Judge wouldn’t let a murderer go free, would He? –no matter how sorry they are? God can’t simply let everyone ‘go free’ because they are sorry. It’s only because Jesus took our punishment that we can go free, and God still be just.”

About that time my friend, Ally, (a Bright Lights leader who has gone on many conference trips with us) walked in to Starbucks.
“Ally!” I waved her over, “I’m talking with two friends here that I just met, do you want to join us?

Now we had four people around the little table. This was getting fun! I was glad (and a little relieved) that Ally was now there to contribute to this conversation.
It is no coincidence that she walked in just now, I realized.

A guy sat down at a table next to us and opened his lap top. I wondered whether he was actually working on his computer or listening to us.

As we continued our discussion, the older man who I met first said, “In the Catholic Church, we go to confession. If we’ve confessed everything to a priest before we die, then we can be pretty sure we’ll go to Heaven.”
“Yes, I’m familiar with that,” I said, “But could you tell me where in the Bible it says that?”
“No” he said, “I don’t even know if the Bible teaches it.”
“Then, with all respect,” I asked, “why do you believe it?”
“Because that’s what I was taught,” he said.
I nodded. “That’s the same as most people,” I mentioned, “Usually Muslims are Muslims because that’s how they were raised. Hindus are Hindus because their parents were, etc. But the different religions can’t all be right as if all of them ‘eventually get to God’ (as some people say) because they teach very different things.”

Next we talked for a while about the accuracy of the Bible.

“I’d say” he mentioned, “that the Bible is kind of like God’s ‘reference-manual’ for how to live our lives on earth.”
“I’d give it a stronger definition than that,” I countered.
“Roadmap?” the lady suggested.
“One way I like to look at it” I said, “is by remembering an acronym for Bible. B.I.B.L.E. = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Eternity is a long time. Nothing is more important than knowing what God says in the Bible about what happens when we die.”

We talked for over two hours in the Starbucks cafe and I wish I could remember and record everything we talked about! Ally shared some good comments and a personal testimony of how the Lord had recently been working in her life.

I left with the excitement of knowing that God had orchestrated our paths to cross, and God would still be at work in their hearts. He is the One who draws people to Himself. It’s such a special gift that He allows us to help.

A couple days ago I was running errands and I prayed that God would lead me to someone I could speak with about the Lord. Suddenly I had a thought: Why don’t you walk into Starbucks.
I walked in (I’m never hesitant to enter Starbucks…) and was quite surprised by what I overheard! An older man was talking to another man a few tables over from him about the Creation Museum.
“It’s very interesting,” he explained to the other costumer, “it’s a whole museum in Kentucky based off the Christian book of Genesis. It proves by science how evolution couldn’t have happened. –Very convincing!”
It is not a coincidence that I am here, I realized as I overheard these comments.

I walked over to his table and introduced myself.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I just had to say something,” I told him, “because I volunteered at that museum and have actually spent quite a bit of time there. I agree—it’s a great place, and something our country definitely needs!”
Feeling God was arranging something here, I ordered an iced latte and sat down a little ways over from him. Right away he began asking me questions, not seeming to mind the space between my table and his. (I didn’t mind that gap between our tables either, because this way, since we had to project our voices a little, the whole café could overhear our conversation. 🙂 )
After talking about the museum, I shared a few interesting facts with him about how the Bible has demonstrated it’s reliability in all areas (history, biology, geology, etc.). The scientific facts point toward a literal, 6-day Creation. I mentioned how many people believe evolution simply because they want to. If there’s no God, then there’s no absolute standard of right and wrong, and people can do whatever they want.
He agreed.
After a few minutes of chatting about this, I showed him one of my favorite tracts, “How Can We Know We’ll Go to Heaven?” by Randy Alcorn.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.
“Sure” he replied.
“Do you think eternal life is a free gift or something we have to earn?” I asked.
“What’s that?” he asked, surprised.
I restated my question.
“I guess I haven’t really thought about it much,” he said after a moment’s thought.
“What’s your opinion?” he asked me.
“Well,” I said, “Romans 6:23 says that ‘the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ So the Bible says pretty clearly that eternal life is a gift–which is great news for us! I know that I could never make it on my own (God’s standard is perfection!) but Jesus died the death I deserved.”
He seemed interested so I continued, “You know, if you think you have to earn your way, you’ll never really know when you’ve been good enough. But the Bible says that we can be sure we are going to Heaven before we die. Like in I John 5:13 where it says, ‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life…’ “1 John 5:13
(I like to quote Scripture because I’ve found people respond well and God’s words have much more “power” than my own!)

“I’ll have to say, I really can’t argue with you,” he said. “Most of what I believe I was taught in the Catholic church when I was young. Honestly, I don’t know why I believe some of the things I believe.”

“Well, there are lots of people who teach lots of different things these days,” I said. “so it’s important that we know the Bible well, and compare everything with that, because that is the ultimate truth God’s given us.”

“You know,” he told me, “You sound a lot like my grandson and his wife.”

My ears always perk up when I hear this. This likely means that he has a believing grandson who is praying for him!
“They’ve been trying to get me to go to church with them,” he continued, “And, you know, I should probably go one of these days….”

A thought popped into my head of who his grandson and grandson’s wife could be. Unbelievably, after asking a few questions about his grandson’s wife, I realized that I knew her! A mutual friend had introduced us because she knew we both excited about “Matt 4:19 Fishing”. And here I was, witnessing to her Grandfather-in law. This must be an answer to her prayers?!

(Often it’s more difficult for relatives to talk plainly about Jesus, heaven, hell, etc. because they don’t want to be offensive. But for me—just a friendly stranger in Starbucks—I can say anything and get away with it! )

This is no coincidence, I realized again.

TO BE CONTINUED. (TOO LONG FOR ONE POST! 🙂 ) CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR TWO.