I had a remarkable conversation today.

A man named Don called Headquarters today (I have no idea how he managed to get patched through to me) and asked me if we could talk about his faith. "Sure," I said. Then he told me some things...He wasn't "raised" to believe in the Bible, he doesn't believe Jesus is the Son of God, he doesn't believe in Satan, but he has some friends who have been talking to him about sin and the need for forgiveness, who have told him what Jesus did for him (us), and who gave him a Bible. He asked if we could read some of it together.

Amazing. We've been praying in our small group for encounters with people who don't know the Lord, but rarely have I had one fall into my lap like this. Don and I had a wonderful conversation. He was (is) afraid to say the name "Jesus Christ," and he was afraid to say words like "repentance" or "forgiveness." (I had asked him to read some from the book of Mark aloud, and that's when he encountered these words and asked if he could skip them.) We talked for over an hour before he said he had to go, but I told him I was going to share his story with my small group and post it on my blog so my friends could pray for him. He begged me not to do this, saying he knew that he had been feeling guilty and was afraid that would make him feel more guilty. I shared with him that Jesus did not want him to have a spirit of fear, and that God wanted to free him from his guilt. He asked me what I believed about Jesus, and when I got to the part about the crucifixion, he wanted me to stop. When he read aloud the description of Jesus' baptism in the first chapter of Mark, he wept when he came to the part where God's voice proclaimed Jesus as His beloved Son, with whom He was well pleased. I told him that was also God's message for him, should he choose to accept it.

I prayed all throughout the conversation that God would give me wisdom and courage, and I believe He did. I told Don that I was going to pray for God to pursue him. I'd like to invite all of you to do the same. I told him his life would never be the same, but that it would be richer than he could ever imagine. I told him I loved him (which he didn't understand) and that that God loved him (which he didn't believe).

Please help me pray for my new friend, Don.

Now Reading: Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller
Cardinals: NL Central Champions; Magic Number: 11