God is on a Mission

God is on a mission, and I am thrilled to be involved. Last night, I went to dinner with some Europeans from my language school whom I haven’t seen in a while. Though they once were, they are no longer my best friends in town. Five minutes after agreeing to go to dinner with these friends, others invited me somewhere else, and I really wanted to go, but I decided to keep my word and do what I had committed to. 

My old friends introduced me to two new girls who arrived in Antigua that very day. Somewhere in the course of dinner, the “get-to-know-you” questions came up. I told them I graduated in 2004, had worked in PR, quit my job, gone to grad school, and then came here. One girl wanted to know what I had studied in grad school. I answered “the Bible.” Quite a conversation ensued.

The Scottish girl who was doing the get-to-knowing was fascinated. She had recently read two books that quoted or referred to the Bible somehow, so she had a new fascination with It though she had never read much of it herself. She thought it was fabulous that I would get to spend a whole year studying something she considered so interesting. I agreed that it was fabulous!

Well, in the conversation that followed, we covered:

·        The Old Testament is not how you have to live anymore because Jesus changed things.

·         The crazy-sounding rules are there for a reason but won’t make sense at first.

·         If you decide to read the Bible for yourself, start in John.

·         We are not here to judge; that’s God’s job.

·         Jesus paid the penalty necessary to make a way for us to be with God.

·         You must accept Jesus’ forgiveness as a free gift.

·         Don’t judge Christianity by the church, which sometimes has a tendency to operate like a business.

I let the new girls know that I had studied other religions, and that I am convinced the Bible is true. The Scottish girl said she wished she had my confidence. (As she said that, it brought back memories of so many times in my life I felt like her. It’s a nice change being the confident one.) I got to give a complete Gospel description. And though both of them are rather gregarious, they both were listening quietly as I described how we are separated from God, but He doesn’t want to leave us that way, thus Jesus.

Praise the Lord that He makes Himself known.