Grace Notes

Yesterday at the park a young mom told me her spiritual beliefs. Her friend laughed as she described her “religion.” Her “belief” was a blasphemous reaction to creation to mock Christianity.

This is going to be an interesting conversation, I thought to myself.

I hadn’t even said anything yet about what I believe, yet right from the start she had clearly stated her rejection of my views.

I knew she probably wouldn’t respond well to questions about sin or Jesus, so instead I asked, “What do you think is the biggest problem in the world?” (I don’t normally ask this question, but I had just written a new questionnaire about an hour earlier. I saw the Lord’s provision in that!)

She and her friend liked the question and basically answered that the biggest problem in the world was selfishness. This led into a conversation about Hitler, morals, and truth, and the need for a standard of right and wrong (which they agreed to).

“I guess it comes down to ‘be a good person and that’s all that matters,’” Jackie said.
“Well, here’s my thinking on that,” I told her, “I know that I am not a good person in comparison to God’s holiness and perfection. It’s all in what you compare to.”
Though she didn’t agree with me, she couldn’t exactly disagree either.

Throughout the next half hour or so, I did a lot of listening and a lot of asking questions. A few times I squeezed in some truths, such as: how Christianity is different from the religions, God’s “rescue plan,” the difference between operational and historical science, etc.

I told them, “I disagree with all of the religions.”
This statement seemed to surprise them.
I explained, “All of the religions are about attaining favor with God. But the Bible says that doesn’t work; we could never attain God’s favor. Christianity is about God reaching down to us.”

When I left they thanked me warmly. They stated how nice it was to have clearly opposing views yet still have an enjoyable conversation.

When I came back and recounted the story to my dad, he reminded me of the power of questions. In a situation like this one–when you are talking with someone who has firmly and blatantly rejected Creation and Christianity–questions are a powerful tool. Sometimes, if we ask the right questions, people talk themselves into a corner. Often, it makes a more powerful impact to let them come to the conclusion that they don’t have good answers, rather than simply stating “you’re wrong and here’s why.” I think this is part of what Jesus meant when he told us to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

They probably won’t admit that they don’t have good answers at the time, but the Lord can bring the conversation back to their mind and use what we said.

We are praising the Lord for the wonderful time witnessing at the parade yesterday! There is such a thrill in sharing the gospel and seeing the Lord’s little miracles along the way. NOTHING else compares!

“Those conversations are so fun,” my dad commented to me as we were walking back to the van afterward.

It’s grieving to think of all the times we fail to take opportunities to share the gospel. We miss out on *so much* when we aren’t out there witnessing.

Praying before we started.

Luke (the guy without the hat) sharing the gospel with this group. Luke comes witnessing with us frequently, but he does it much more on his own! It’s always exciting to hear his “latest story.”

Nickie and Bekah went to a different street to passing out tracts and have conversations with people.

My dad had a great conversation with some Hispanic college students and two students wanted to pray and trust Christ to save them! Apparently, they had some previous Bible knowledge and yesterday “it all came together” for them. Praise the Lord!

I used a St Patrick Questionnaire which made it easier to start conversations quickly. I think the questionnaire makes people feel more comfortable and willing to talk.

My favorite conversation was one with Josh and Ciarra, a brother and sister who looked about 18 and 20. They just soaked up what I was telling them about salvation. No hesitation, no resistance, just pure openness and excitement about the good news of the gospel.

Ciarra had thought one could get to Heaven because “God forgives.” I told her she was partially right, but that there was more to it.

“If a criminal stood before the judge and said, ‘Will you just forgive me?’ the judge couldn’t just do that; he wouldn’t be a good judge.”

Ciarra and Josh really agreed with that.

When I explained that God provided JESUS to be our substitute and take our “death penalty” so that we could walk out of God’s courtroom free — yet God still be just — it seemed to click with them. As Romans 3:26 says, “So that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

“Actually, two guys talked to me about this in the mall last week,” Josh told me.
“Really? How did they start the conversation?” I asked, wondering if I would know who they were.
“Well, I was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘God is the only one who can judge me,’” and they complimented it.
“Ah, neat!” I replied. “What did they say?”
“About the same thing you said,” Josh replied.

“Well, I think that means that God is reaching out to you!” I told him. “I think it really shows His care! I mean, since that just happened last week, and now here I am talking to you – out of all the people here at the parade!”

Josh agreed enthusiastically, and seemed very surprised by all this himself. I had already given him a Bible a few minutes earlier as I sensed his eagerness. (I had given Josh a Begin, which has some of Genesis as well as John and Romans). He and Ciarra said they’d be interested in meeting up with us to study the Bible.

As I was recounting this story afterward, my friend Luke said, “Oh yeah, I talked to him at the mall Friday night.”
“Oh, that was you, Luke?!” I said.
“Yeah, I’ve been praying for him and we’ve been e-mailing,” Luke replied.
“That’s neat you’ve been praying for him!” Sarah said, “That’s probably why God caused Grace to talk to him today.”

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and there were 10,000+ people at the parade. The odds of me having a conversation with Josh are not high! Sarah reminded us that just a few days ago, we saw the Lord arrange another one of these “miraculous connections.” What an undeserved privledge that we are God’s “fellow workers” and get to watch Him work (1 Corinthians 3:9). It’s not surprising that we should especially see His hand in matters of reaching the lost.

I walked up as my dad was talking to these guys. After my dad laid out the gospel, one of the boys said, “Wow, that just blew my brain.” He was pretty excited about what he was learning.

There were also two girls sitting on a bench listening. After a few minutes they joined in and all four asked question after question … making the conversation go on and on. The girls were resistant initially, but really began to warm up as their questions were answered. [smile]

As we left, the guys thanked my dad warmly. “Thank you SO much,” they told him.

These teens had a lot of real questions. They were acting silly and argumentative, but only on the surface. They were laughing and having fun, just as we were. But they were also learning a lot. That is something they didn’t expect, but appreciated!

If Christians don’t get into talks with unbelievers, how will our world ever hear Biblical answers? They apparently don’t hear them anywhere else, and so they think there aren’t any answers.

What a privilege to be involved in their lives.