Recently, I was chatting with a gentleman in a coffee shop. As we were talking, he told me that he wrote a book about world peace. So, I said to him, “Nobody must have read it!” Now, I was not besmirching his book or his effort. He got my joke and laughed out loud. We don’t have anything close to world peace going on at the moment in our world.
We chatted further, and I gave him a copy of One Heartbeat Away along with both of my booklets.
Then I ran into Salomon a few weeks later at the same coffee shop. He told me he read the book and the booklets but didn’t agree with a lot of what I wrote. He stated that he didn’t want to respond to me by email, as it would be too long. He said he would rather have lunch instead.
So, a couple of days ago, we had lunch. I have to be honest, it was one of the most frustrating conversations I have ever had in my life. We talked for over three hours. The problem was that he wouldn’t answer any of my questions. None of them. He came up with philosophical responses but never directly answered any question I asked. Well, it’s not a discussion when that kind of thing happens.
I asked him, “Is there a God?” He just gave a conceptual answer. “If there was a creator for this table, wouldn’t there have to be a Creator of this universe?” Philosophical response. “Do you believe you have a soul?” He stated, “You are always trying to separate things, like a soul is separate from the body.” “Do you believe in the afterlife?” “See, just using the word ‘after…’”
Then, I went to the tried and true question, “Who do you think Jesus is?”
Matthew 16:15
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
I could not get a definitive response from him about whether or not Jesus existed, if He died on a cross, etc.
I even asked him, “What is truth?” That is a great question. I still could not get an answer. Remember, that is a big question to ask people.
I even separated it with, “Do you think we have relative truth and absolute truth?”
John 18:38
“Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
The most I could get from Salomon was that I was trying to separate things, and he was leaning towards the oneness of everything. But I am not even sure that is what he believed! Did I tell you this conversation frustrated me a bit?! It seemed like I was hearing a lot of New-Age gobbledygook.
Now, you do believe God is good, correct? Like, really good? Well, the waiter’s name was Valentino, a 22-year old guy who was very, very open. He’s had Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he was 9 years old and wasn’t supposed to make it. He went through two or three years of chemo, but there he was, standing in front of us. He said that medicine and faith got him through that ordeal, and it became an easy door to walk through.
Here is the interesting part. Every question that I had asked Salomon, that I also asked Valentino, and Valentino answered every single one of them! Is there a God? Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything before? Who do you think Jesus is? Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? What do you think the afterlife is? And, as you might have guessed, Salomon got to hear the answers to all of those questions. And guess who got to hear all of my responses to Valentino’s answers? That is correct: Salomon!
Even though it was a very frustrating conversation, some really, really good seeds were planted.
I had driven to the side of town that can have a ton of traffic going back to where I live if you don’t leave at the right time. Well, I was past that time, so I decided to pop into a different coffee shop I sometimes go to and did some Bible reading. At one point, I was near the counter talking to a couple of the workers. It was a little slow, and they were bored. Perfect time to continue my conversations with them.
A gentleman walked up to get a coffee, so I bought it for him. I said, “Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive, and I enjoy blessing people.” He stated that was very interesting because he was an atheist! I told him, “You are not the first atheist I have ever met!”
Well, he ended up sitting with me, and we talked for about 45 minutes. Guess what? Every single question I asked Salomon, I also asked Alex! He didn’t avoid a single question that I asked him. He grew up Catholic and walked away from it all. He stated that he was 99.9 percent sure there was not a God, but he could be wrong. If you ever hear that, just ask, “What if you are wrong?” There are some major, major consequences if one is wrong.
After I asked him some questions, he told me he believed that Jesus existed, more than likely died on a cross, but did not rise from the dead. This is why you talk about the Resurrection. I let him know that the Resurrection is the kicker. It is what sets Jesus apart from Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, Shinto, Krishna, etc. All one has to do—and must do—is find out if the Resurrection is real or if there are still bones in His tomb.
Interestingly, I prayed that morning that I would have a good long conversation with someone. I thought it would be with Salomon, of course, since we were having lunch, but it really ended up being with Valentino and Alex. Valentino said that even if we didn’t leave him a tip, it was worth it to serve our table for the wisdom that he acquired! That was a really nice thing to hear from a young man. But don’t worry, I gave him a nice Jesus blessing and some materials that he wanted to read! And my discussion with Alex was worth waking up for that day.
Has anyone ever told you that God answers prayer? And has anyone ever told you there will be no world peace until the Prince of Peace is reigning on earth?
Until the nets are full,
P.S. Salomon has emailed me since then and let me know what a great time he had at lunch! And I am sitting here thinking that I still don’t even know what happened at lunch!
P.P.S.
