Meet Athena (14)

Before I was talking to Athena I got to talk to a guy named Tony. Me and Trabo stood in the middle of the walk way in the student union. Just us against the world. After asking Jesus for wisdom and giving Him the glory for whatever would happen during our talks we split.

Trabo went to a table of girls that were promoting the cure for breast cancer. Pink was all over that table. Before he went over there I was like, "Dude, I don't think its a good idea to go over there." But of course, who am I to say you shouldn't share the Gospel with someone. My argument was that it may not be wise to go to them because you would continue to be interrupted. People would constantly walk up and when you are witnessing people are usually looking for anything to change the subject. But he went anyway and I am glad he did.

I on the other hand headed to Tony. He was sitting on a bench all by himself. I tried something totally new with him. I started out with questions about slavery. I asked him if he was against all forms of slavery. Surprisingly, he got where I was going and in his views he included any form of having a boss is a form of slavery. So, he said he wasn't against all forms of slavery. Then I asked him would he ever want to be slave if his master was: the kindest person ever, the richest person ever, loved him more than anything, gave him ownership of everything he owned, never gave him anything he could not handle, promised that everything he allowed to happen would be for his good, but the master would expect him to do whatever he wanted whenever he told him.

Tony said he wouldn't go for it. I was totally surprised, but perhaps it is a view into the heart of man. Man does not what to give up control. Too bad we never had control in the first place.

Tony's roommate came up and he said they were going to go eat lunch so I thanked him for his time and he left before I got to even begin the Gospel. Here's is a little secret, I just found out he is in my class. This fish won't get off the hook that easy. Hehehe...

But after Tony left I met up with Athena. Athena was very open to talking. I loved it. She is a catholic but doesn't really practice. That is pretty typical in my experience. When I asked her to explain to me how to get to heaven she said, "Now that is a tough question."

It's funny that before I was a Christian I would have said the same thing. I had no idea how to get to heaven. I could tell you what were some things God wanted me to do, but I had no idea how to get to heaven. Athena was in the same place I was once in.

Instead of going through down the Way of the Master route I shared my testimony. I was sure to include my sins and God's judgement. I shared with her how much I deserved punishment from God. It is crazy to think that I am forgiven. God was so angry with me before, and rightly so, but now...

I thought about this earlier today. God saw me in my sins, and He saw how much I loved living for myself always doing whatever I wanted and He promoted me. He promoted me to be His slave. To be His slave is a higher honor than being the greatest of kings... He has changed me so much. "God, I love you. Thank You so much, Father."

I shared with Athena my concerns about the Catholic church. I even went over imputed vs infused righteousness with her (consult your local neighborhood pastor with any questions you may have).

By the end of the talk I asked her to read 1 John for a couple of reasons. She had said she wasn't sure you could know if you are going to heaven (1 John 5:13) and I was very concerned for her salvation (1 John is a book full of tests that shows you if you are a Christian). I was concerned because she had a catholic background and for some of her answers during our talk.

All in all a good day. Oh yeah, and Trabo got booted from the table by the girls. Hate to say I told you so, but he did it for God's glory and some girls got to see someone who loved Jesus enough to get shoo-ed away from a table. So, this post was really boring. In the future I will definitely talk a little more time before I write these things down.