The Return...

Returning from Korea was a mix of emotions. As rode the bus to the airport, I was flooded with feelings of gratitude but also loss. I’ve been changed by this experience. I’m grateful for the ways that God showed me His love, and I cherish the new friendships I have. As I traveled home, God began to show me some of the continuing ways He desires to use me. He has always presented opportunities for me to share Him with others, but I’ve often shied away from speaking about Him. While in Korea, it became abundantly clear that my purpose is to love Him and to share Him. Countless times, people would ask, “Why are you here?” It was always the easiest thing to tell about my Savior. Now as I return to America, the same thing happens. “Why were you there?” is now the question, but the answer is the same. Here are a couple of examples:
_______________________

Jake sat next to me all the way from Tokyo to D.C. He’s originally from China but moved to the U.S. when he was very young and is now a naturalized citizen. He was on his way back from Taiwan after visiting his girlfriend. They’re both lawyers. They met in school, and after graduation her Visa ran out, so she had to return home last fall. Throughout our flight we shared good conversation and laughs.

He works on environmental issues and at meal time asked if they served vegetarian. They didn’t, so he settled for the regular meal. I asked if he was vegetarian for religious or health reasons. He said it was for environmental reasons. He doesn’t have a problem with meat in general, just some of the practices used in raising livestock.

I asked if he had any religious background, and he said has agnostic. We talked for a couple of hours about that. He asked many questions, and I gave the best answers I could, including, “I don’t know.” Most of his questions centered around the inability to prove the claims about God and Jesus and the Bible. I admitted that, but added that although we many times cannot prove something is real, we also cannot argue against someone’s personal experience.

We talked about faith. He said it was difficult for him to believe anything that couldn’t be proven. We talked about evolution. We talked about our views on the origin of things. We talked about Lee Strobbel’s “The Case for Christ” (actually, he brought it up). We talked about the difference in coincidence and God’s active involvement in our lives. We differ in opinion, but we were both open and listened. I conceded that beginning with faith sounds like circular reasoning to some, but that after I met Jesus, it was easy to trust in things I could not understand or prove.

I shared the following illustration told to me by an Indian scientist:

A carpenter, a teacher and a scientist were traveling through Scotland by train. The carpenter pointed to a black sheep in a field and said, “Scottish sheep are black.” The teacher said, “We only know that this particular sheep is black.” The scientist said, “Actually, we only know that one side of that sheep is black.”

The illustration is intended to show that we can only know what we can prove, but I shared my ending with Jake.

I said, “The train stopped nearby, and a shepherd got on and overheard the discussion of the three. He said, ‘That’s my sheep, and I assure you, it is black all over.’ We may not be able to prove everything, but we can take the Shepherd’s word for it.”

We talked about Fathers and sons. Why do children trust their parents? He said it is an instinct developed through millennia of evolutionary change. I commented that it could actually be God’s example to us about how we should view Him. I said, “I can share my understanding of God’s revelation and my own experience with you, but ultimately only God can reveal Himself.”

Finally, I asked him, “Do you love your girlfriend?”
He said, “Yes.”
I asked, “Why?”
That was difficult to answer. He can’t prove it. He can’t explain why he feels the way he does. All he knows is that it’s real. I have to take his word for it. It’s the same as my faith in God.

I asked him to be open to the possibility of God…to simply ask Him, “If you are there, reveal yourself to me. Show me the truth.” I asked, “What have you got to lose?” He said he would consider that.
_______________________

Yesterday, I was at Krystal watching the Super Bowl. Strange, I know. I got a nice laptop before going to Korea, and I finished downloading the game using their free WiFi. As I was leaving, a man asked me about my computer, and we struck up a conversation. I told him why I had it, and he said he was going to China sometime soon. So there we went, heading right down the same conversation path. My eyes have been opened to the great possibilities of encounters that God gives me. I pray I will never again fail to see them for what they are.