The Cru mission trip to Poland had gone well. Our Faculty Commons group had joined the student ministry group from Chicago sharing the gospel on campus with Polish students in Poznan. Everything had gone smoothly until that morning.
We missed our train and lost our reserved seats to Krakow!
The Plan Was to Get on Quickly
Kasia Beck, the FC staff member helping to lead the trip, headed to the ticket office and came back with the news …. first the good news. We will get to Krakow on time for our speaking engagement. The bad news? We will have to change trains part of the way there … and on the second train there were no seat reservations left. We will have to stand in the corridor for three hours. Yet, there will be fold-down seats for those who get on first. The plan was for us to get on as quickly as we could and get those seats.
The first train with our reserved seats went fine. Carrying our luggage, we changed trains and rushed onto the second train hoping to grab a corridor fold-down seat before others did.
I Wanted to Yell
It was cramped and crowded, and after all the excitement, I was tired and a bit weary. Needless to say, I just wanted to delve into a good book to pass the time for the next three hours. I shifted, trying to get comfortable, escaping into my book.
At this point, I heard Kasia’s voice talking to a stranger standing between us in the corridor, and she was talking about … you guessed it … Jesus and the gospel. I wanted to yell, “You’ve got to be kidding me! Give it a rest!” Okay. Fine for her. I tried to tune them out and focus on my book.
A Soft Spot for India
Suddenly, I heard her saying, “You believe in science?” She then looked over at me and said, “Amid, this is my friend, Mark. He is a scientist, and I have heard him say chemistry has shown him more of God.” My thought was, “You’ve got to be kidding me – give me a break, Kasia!”
It turned out that Amid was raised as a Hindu in India. This drew me in; I have a soft spot for India having spent a summer there years ago. I additionally softened when seats opened up for Amid and me in the compartment next to us, so things got more comfortable.
Amid had become a skeptic about the existence of God, which opened the door for me to talk about how in my teens, the beauty and brilliance of nature eroded my deep-seated atheism.
I explained to Amid that those early experiences caused me to transition from an atheist to a theist, and ultimately played a large role in my becoming a Jesus follower.
It Brought Me Much Joy
We were locked in a warm, engaging conversation for the rest of the trip, opening up about our lives, backgrounds, and life goals. I didn’t share the gospel with Amid (Kasia had already done that), but the conversation was meaningful enough that I know it made an impact on him, perhaps to the point of him considering becoming a Jesus follower in the future. The conversation brought me much joy.
What if I hadn’t been willing to enter into this conversation? What if I had listened only to my own desire for comfort and had not engaged? Does God look at me and say, “You’ve got to be kidding?”
