a new friend

I met a new friend this week. I was away for a couple of days and on Wednesday evening I went across to the fast food place just over the road from the travelodge where I was staying. There was no one else in the place and the guy that served me was called Naveed. I had to wait a while for my food and whilst I was waiting Naveed asked me what I did for a living. When I told him that I led a church he asked me what type. When I said a baptist church he said that he had no idea what that was. We then entered into a conversation and he told me all about his wife and daughter and that they were looking for somewhere to get her christened. Unfortunately Naveed lives about 50 miles from Bracknell but we talked about what his options were where he lived.

He made it quite clear to me that he isn't a Christian but we had a great conversation and he was genuinely interested in church.

Then my food was ready and we said goodnight.

I expect that I will never see Naveed again, but what the whole experience made me realise afresh is that people are really open to conversations about church and about God. He didn't give me any abuse, make fun or belittle what I was saying (and I didn't do that about what he was saying) and I think we both really enjoyed chatting. And who knows what the outcome of that conversation might be for Naveed and his family.

The point of all this is that we should realise that the opportunities for conversation and witness are all around us. It isn't difficult or stressful. We just need to chat! We need to be genuinely interested in other people and in what they have to say. We don't need to try to convert them in one conversation and we certainly shouldn't judge them or belittle what they are saying. Just being natural and enjoying other people is quite enough. And God can do some amazing things when we do just that. So let's do it, what's stopping us?

God bless

Chris