Paul the BMX rider.
I sat with Paul on the flight from L.A. to Orlando. Paul is 16 and was on his way to compete in the BMX Nationals. He is prepping his run for the Olympics in 8 years time. After the usual life story chat it became fairly clear that he was not a Christian. Two things gave this away – 1. He answered all of my questions about him and asked nothing in return (a person entirely disinterested in anyone other than themselves is rarely Christian). However the clincher was 2. I asked him about the origin of his name – “Is Paul a family name or were you named after that famous man Paul in the Bible?” A family name it was and he’d never heard of Paul in the Bible. "Really?! well let me tell you about him." I then prayed constantly as I retold a brief synopsis of Paul’s life but sadly BMX Paul was not following. My final effort was to open the Bible to Romans and read it slowly in a position that he could easily see on my tray table (real close on an aeroplane considering I could read another guy's book who was on the other side of Paul). In the end he was steadfastly cold and merely grunted at our parting when I suggested he look into Paul in the Bible some time. Was a seed sown that will bear fruit 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown? We'll know in heaven, my prayer is that it was not snatched away.
Please pray for me Colossians 4:2-6.
By the way, we also met a lady called Kerry and her family. Kerry is a volunteer worship leader in a little church plant in Daytona. We had seen her perform the previous day at the American Idol Experience in Hollywood Studios. On this day we found her in a long queue at Epcot and said gidday. It was really great to meet fellow Christians who wanted to talk about our common faith and spur one another on to obey Jesus.
Michael
I sat with Paul on the flight from L.A. to Orlando. Paul is 16 and was on his way to compete in the BMX Nationals. He is prepping his run for the Olympics in 8 years time. After the usual life story chat it became fairly clear that he was not a Christian. Two things gave this away – 1. He answered all of my questions about him and asked nothing in return (a person entirely disinterested in anyone other than themselves is rarely Christian). However the clincher was 2. I asked him about the origin of his name – “Is Paul a family name or were you named after that famous man Paul in the Bible?” A family name it was and he’d never heard of Paul in the Bible. "Really?! well let me tell you about him." I then prayed constantly as I retold a brief synopsis of Paul’s life but sadly BMX Paul was not following. My final effort was to open the Bible to Romans and read it slowly in a position that he could easily see on my tray table (real close on an aeroplane considering I could read another guy's book who was on the other side of Paul). In the end he was steadfastly cold and merely grunted at our parting when I suggested he look into Paul in the Bible some time. Was a seed sown that will bear fruit 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown? We'll know in heaven, my prayer is that it was not snatched away.
Please pray for me Colossians 4:2-6.
By the way, we also met a lady called Kerry and her family. Kerry is a volunteer worship leader in a little church plant in Daytona. We had seen her perform the previous day at the American Idol Experience in Hollywood Studios. On this day we found her in a long queue at Epcot and said gidday. It was really great to meet fellow Christians who wanted to talk about our common faith and spur one another on to obey Jesus.
Michael
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