Two nervous people trying to convert one another

Today is the first day that I have neglected to bring my bible to school with me in quite sometime. My reasoning for not bringing it? I have tons of other stuff to do today. Foolishness.

While working on a historical geography paper over the creation of Yellowstone National Park during lunch I watched a guy walk around the student center talking to different people as they ate. He managed to skip over me as he progressed throughout the area, probably because I tend to seek out the area furthest from human contact. So after a brief moment of watching him I forget about him just as fast and continue my work.

At about a good 2 minuets till class time I gather my things and head towards my next class. On my way out none other then the odd fellow I was watching stopped me. Curiosity out beat my drive to not be late, so I ceded to talk with him. He first ask me where I am from and then nervously begins to tell me about the oddest religion I have ever heard of. After a very brief and confusing explanation he shows me a textbook sized manual on his religion (complete with pictures of course) and offers it to me free of charge, in exchange for a donation. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I had no cash on me but my curiosity was fully aroused now and the urge to share Christ with this extremely lost individual was starting to tingle within my heart. So I regretfully tell him the probably apparent truth about how I am a poor college student but ask him if he would explain more to me. I then ask him about his views on God and Christ. He tells me that he (and his people) believe in one God (or truth as he put it) and from it emanates many demigods. As I again stress the question of who Christ is he admits to me that he sees him as merely a demigod and not God incarnate. I then try and tell him of the many times that Christ not equated Himself with God but referred to Himself as such. But I felt so naked without my bible, being unable to sit him down and show him that if Christ was in fact a demigod that came from the one "truth" but wasn't the actual truth, then He was a deceiving one. Being unable to actually show him scripture but merely quoting it I don' t think he believed my testimony about Christ to much and merely shrugged it off by saying, "He didn't really say that" or "that's not what He meant."

As that conversation started to fizzle I nervously tried to keep it going by asking his views on salvation and heaven. His response to this question was odder then that of the first. He first looked awkward at me (as if not really wanting to answer) and told me that it was all explained in the book he was trying to give me. I again tell him that I have no money on me and wished for him to explain briefly, if he could, to me now. He then reluctantly begins to tell me of a religion that believes heavily on reincarnation and different kinds of heavens that exist on each planet in our solar system with the ultimate one residing in an unknown area with the "truth" (God). I try and ask him how to attain this ultimate heaven but by this time he is trying to get out of the conversation. He gives me a simple universalist answer to my questions and says he must get going. I reluctantly stop pursuing the conversation but ask him his name. He doesn't tell me at first but I ask him again as he leaves and he tells me that it is Anunda (if I heard correctly). I then ask if he lives here or is staying for awhile in hopes of talking to him again later but he tells me that he is only here for the day. We again exchange pleasant goodbyes and go our separate ways.

I left the conversation with a huge burden for Anunda. My desire was to just sit down with him and tell him the wondrous truths about Christ. Ever since our conversation I have thought continuously about him, praying that God would reveal to him the truth about the preeminence of Christ and how He is the only way to obtain any kind of "ticket" into the true residing place of God. If you would, please pray for this individual this week. We may never know how God will ultimately use these prayers for Anunda but I know that we are commanded to do it. And I trust God's wisdom above my own.

What is the moral of this story? Don't leave home without your Bible!

-Matt-