Unusual Evangelism Opportunity – Part 2

We had scarcely settled ourselves when Dash returned, bringing a friend (“Scruffy”) with him. And wouldn’t you know it, Dash knew “Jawad,” my friend the taxi driver! Suddenly the evening relaxed into pleasantness and camaraderie.

As our visit progressed, it became evident to me that although Scruffy had been introduced as a Christian, only Dash and I are true believers. Scruffy reads the Bible every day, but won’t go to church because people talk about his long hair (“If you come to my church, I won’t talk about your hair,” I promised, deciding against asking “So why don’t you cut it?”), and when I asked Jawad where he goes to church, he admitted he doesn’t regularly attend anywhere. “But now that you are in my life, I’ll start going!” “Please don’t,” I said severely. “That is NOT a good reason. The best reason to attend church is to obey and worship God.”

Dash ended up spending much of the evening chatting separately with my housemate, leaving me to entertain the other two. Interestingly, they guided much of our visit toward discussing spiritual topics, reading Scripture, etc. Near the end of the visit, Jawad suddenly exclaimed, “I love the way you talk about God! You make Him seem so real and so good!” “I was just thinking the same thing,” Scruffy echoed. “He IS real, and He IS good,” I exulted. “And don’t think I say this just because I have a loving family, or because I’m an American. I’ve lost beloved friends and family members to death; I was born into poverty, and know what it’s like to be poor; I’ve had a debilitating disease; I’ve survived two car accidents; and much more. God has allowed so many hardships in my life, and through them all He has been faithful. So believe me when I say I KNOW that God is real and God is good!”

One of my favorite aspects of witnessing to unbelievers is that praising my wonderful God to them reminds me how marvelous He is, and reignites my passion for Him. Please pray that my love for and joy in Christ would be so contagious that Scruffy and Jawad would want to make Him their own! If God is calling them and they want to sincerely seek Him, I’m well aware of the fact that I’m NOT the person to direct them further: so please pray that God will give me great discernment if I interact with them in the future.

And for future reference – if anything like this ever happens again, I am going to invite people to visit me at my OFFICE, not my house. I didn’t have time to think of this simple solution earlier, but it will be much wiser all around!