Plant it anyway

It was almost like God was putting me to the test. I had just checked out of my hotel and was in the shuttle bus heading toward the airport when it happened. The driver heard something on the radio about a Muslim prophet and he declared, "I don't believe there are any prophets. Don't get me wrong. I believe in something, some force that created all this, but I don't think there is a God who talks to people!"

I had been at a conference for church pastors with a focus on sharing your faith to an unbelieving world. I was on my way home to share all I had learned. When faced with my first test I didn't have anything to say to this man. I fumbled around for words. All I could think of was nice platitudes. Where were the witty and funny anecdotes that the speakers shared from the stage. Sharing the truth is a lot harder in real life than the lecturers make it.

As I listened to him talk, I couldn't think of anything to say that would change his mind. He already had a basic sense of reality that excluded God. I tried to make all kinds of excuses for why I should just keep my mouth shut and they worked. We arrived at the airport and I gave him a tip and said "God bless you." "God bless You!" That was all I could up with and I walked away feeling as though I had missed an opportunity.


The truth is that I couldn't have said anything to change his mind in the ten minutes we had together, but I could have planted a seed or two. Hindsight is 20/20 and now I realize that I could have simply shared that in my experience God had been a real presence in my life. Who knows where the discussion would have led from there. Maybe I could have shared a few stories where I felt god had been with me. It may have shut down the conversation but it may have also opened a door. Even if it closed down the talk, I would have at least expressed an opposite point of view, a new reference point for his next discussion.

Who knows? He may say to the next person riding in his shuttle, "I just had this guy in here who said he believed God talked to him?" The truth is that most of us will never see the results of our sharing. We plant seeds here and there and the next person com,es along and moves it a little further along. I like what the apostle Paul said, "I planted. Apollos watered and God caused it to grow." That is the way it happens. God never expects us to finish the conversation. We just engage others in it and watch what God can do.

It's never a failure if you learn from it. I think I'll be ready next time. How about you?

Cal