This past quarter I got to share the gospel with my friend Rodney. I knew him before because he's a friend of a friend from Yukai (my taiko group), but this past quarter I had Math 103A (my awesome math teaching class) with him, and so I've been able to get to know him more through that. He said he used to go to church before college but it's been hard for him to "keep it up" since then, but he says it's something he's been wanting to do and he does still call himself a Christian. So we went to go do classroom observations at University High School one day, and on the ride back from the high school I got to ask him about his salvation testimony. He said he decided to become a Christian a few years ago when he saw and admired how passionate his older sister was for Jesus and knew then that he wanted to follow Him too. Of course, without any mention of sin, guilt, conviction, repentance, etc., I was prompted to do a little more investigating. But somehow, we got on a tangent, and I started to see that his doctrine was pretty mixed up and tainted. He didn't recognize the spiritual significance of the local church and believed in being his own "personal church". He also believes in... well... aliens. And aliens' faith and aliens' salvation. Yep. When I first heard that, I was definitely like, Seriously... ? to myself. But anyway, eventually we settled down at a table in Ackerman Student Union (a building at UCLA) and he took out his books and started studying, and there was silence for a few minutes while I was trying to think of what to say next... (Aliens? Really?) ...but I couldn't think of a good segue, so then I just burst out, "Do you ever feel guilty about your sins?" I think he said something like, "Uh, yeah, I guess so..." and then it was like I had something caught in my throat and was awkwardly at a loss for words again as he went back to studying, so then I just burst out again, "Can I give the gospel to you right now?" and so he looked at me kind of confused, and then was like, "Uhhh... yeah, sure." So then we spent the next 30 minutes going through the whole bridge illustration. It didn't seem like he learned anything new, but he did acknowledge at the end that he still sees himself in the rebellious relationship against God even though he's "trying" to be in the relationship of submission to God, and he said everything was a good reminder, and it looked like he was thinking a lot more. So I wanted to keep poking at his thoughts, but I kind of had to go to class, so I just invited him to Titus, and he said he'd think about making it out...
So clearly, I had no idea what I was doing, and I still really don't, but it's all God. He brought this opportunity to me, allowed me to speak forth the power of the gospel, and it's Him to Whom I pray for Rodney with expectancy and excitement. So we'll just have to wait and see what the Lord does because it's really all up to His sovereign will. The comparison came to my mind yesterday at Titus Men's Small Group between Jeremiah and Jonah. Jonah was possibly the worst, most stubborn prophet ever, trying time after time to avoid doing what God wanted Him to do, and (although perhaps arguably) never actually repenting of his stubborn, hard heart. Yet, God (somehow) used Jonah to save all of Ninevah. On the flip-side, there was Jeremiah, who was one of the most humble and dedicated of the prophets, faithfully prophesying for decades. And yet, his ministry yielded no converts. God just does what He wants, and we love it! Our "success" as Christians cannot be measured as the world measures, in results and numbers, but in our ability to simply submit to the Lord and follow in obedience... wherever He leads... daily. Amen.
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