The Everyday Club

4/12/10 Christian, Gustavo, both 18
Coming home after work I thought of many places I could stop to witness so I prayerfully flipped a coin several times and ended up at Burger King. Two high school students were hanging out there so I asked them about their beliefs. Christian very thoughtfully said that he believes God made the world and set everything in motion, but has long since left it on its own. "It's the only way I can explain why the world is in the state its in". He took pride in coming up with his own theory and not following after the beliefs of others, but I told him that his theory was the well-known "watchmaker" theory that says the world is like a watch that is wound up after it is made and left to run on its own. Christian said his father is a strict Catholic and that they have had religious debates, with his father ending up angry. Christian also visited a youth group meeting at one of the locations of my own church and had a debate with the youth leader there that ended the same way. After we talked for some time I explained to him about God's grace in Jesus, but before I did so I "laid the foundation" with an explanation of where we stand with God according to His law. I explained how we are condemned by our sin because of God's love for justice, and how Jesus satisfied God's justice on the cross. Christian was amazed - "I've never heard it explained that way before. I always wondered why Jesus died on the cross!" The rest of our conversation was filled with deep questions from Christian, followed by my answers, and then long silences as he took it in and formulated his next question. What a joy to talk to such a thoughtful young man.