I’m tired, kind of discouraged, praying, and hungry.

I find a restaurant in the St Louis airport, (on my way back from Urbana), order a plate, and open my Bible.

It’s December 31 and I’m about 5 days behind on my yearly Bible reading. To finish on time I have to read Haggai to Malachi, the last 5 chapters of Revelation, and some of Psalms and Proverbs.

The server walks up and asks me a question. “What’s that?”

 “A Bible”

“Really? Well what is that word?”

“Aggée”.

“??”

“It’s a French Bible”

“Oh”

He sits down across from me. Mid-thirties. Dark Beard. Burning eyes, alive with doubt.

“Well then, I’ve got a question for you. If the Vatican has enough money to solve worldwide poverty, why don’t they do it?”

“Probably for the same reason Wall Street doesn’t solve poverty”

“Yes, but Wall Street doesn’t have a biblical mandate to help the poor.”

“Sure they do, they simply aren’t listening to it… the same way the Vatican isn’t… the same way most of Western Christianity isn’t.”

“Hmm. Well, was Jesus God?”

And on the conversation went: the divinity of Jesus, the reliability of the biblical manuscripts, the differences between the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus, the accuracy of O.T. prophesies, and various reasons people don’t believe.

I agree, these are difficult questions; but ironically, I was able to answer every single one of his questions… except one:

“John, What would God have to do for you to believe that He exists, and come to earth in the person of Jesus?”

“I don’t know, that is a good question.”

It turns out that John is an ex-Catholic. He’s been hurt by the “church”, and has a hard time believing that the Bible could actually be true after having been abused for so many centuries by so many people. He too, was hurt by the church.

I’m praying for you John.

…

Later, on the plane:

Sitting two rows in front of me, she turns around,

“Were you talking with a guy about Jesus at a restaurant earlier?”

“Yes”

“ I was sitting a couple of tables away with a group of girls and we were amazed. So we prayed for you throughout the entire conversation.”

“Wow, praise God!”

I had a secret prayer table and had no idea.

Papa, you amaze me.

We’re still praying for you John…