My friend...

I am intrigued by his life. He shares it so freely, but yet his pain is so hidden. When he talks about his family, its as if the pain they’ve caused him isn’t real. When he talks about his ex, its like he thinks if he talks about it he won’t really feel it. When he talks about his life, he wants to do good, but can’t quite put his finger on what this life is all about. This is my friend.
I think back to the day we met. It was a Sunday I happened to walk through the market to get home instead of taking my usual route. When we met, I never thought that he would share so much of his life with me.
The other week he started sharing with me his journey. He’d been reading the Bible with our Jehovah’s Witness Spanish teacher for 3 hours this week and had a lot of questions. I am always caught off guard by his honesty, “I know a lot of people ask questions like the one I am about to ask just to try and prove you wrong or get in an argument, but I am honestly curious. How do you know that what you believe is right? I mean, what’s the difference between what you believe, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims or any other religion for that matter?”
As I shared with him what were the differences and the “proofs of the faith,” I didn’t neglect to tell him what the Lord had done in my life. Don’t neglect the power of testimony.
My friend is an interesting type… in HIS daily life, with his relationships, friendships and the like, he is extremely emotional. To be quite frank we give him a hard time about being a girl, but truly he is a feelings based type of guy. But when it comes to God, it’s as if we do a 180. “You can’t prove to me that there is a God, but I can’t prove to you that there isn’t and I’m ok with that.” Or statements like, “I just don’t have faith.” He always comes back to the “set of rules” he has set for his life; doing good verses doing evil.
The other night I prayed for a lot for wisdom as I was talking to him because I knew that it was going to be ME that was going to do any convincing at all. It was going to have to be the Spirit of the Living God. So we talked about Jesus. We talked about his life and who he was, but more importantly who he wasn’t. He wasn’t about a set of rules. He was about coming to set us FREE. As I spoke about Jesus’ relationship with the Samaritan Woman I saw a softness come over my friend. Even if he didn’t understand me or other Christians, I think he has some sort of connectedness with Jesus.
That was my challenge. “If you are at all interesting in the possibility of a God… If this guy Jesus at all intrigues you, isn’t it worth checking it out?”
When you talk to my friend about why he chose to come here, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But if you were to ask me why he came here, I would say it would be to hear about Jesus. He is jus starting his journey to Jesus, but even as I write that, I think of Paul the Apostle’s words to King Agrippa, “Short time or long- I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:29)
Its God’s work and I am amazed at how he does it. He speaks to people through the testimony of his followers, through the Life of His Son, through His Word and through whatever the heck he chooses to use. You know why? Because He really is God.