The Everyday Club

6/3/10 Matt, 27
Outside Cellular Field during a White Sox game today I talked to Matt, who was in a fenced-in smoking area for fans. He didn't want to take the "million dollar bill" tract I tried to use as a conversation starter, so I asked him why and this started a conversation anyway. Matt told me he is too busy for church involvement. He stopped attending his family's Catholic church after being confirmed at age 14 and started attending Young Life, an evangelical parachurch organization for teens that I myself have been heavily involved in. He attended two of Young Life's summer outreach camps and described them as "informative" spiritually and said that he felt the youth leaders were very genuine in the way they lived their faith. He appreciated the spiritual message of Young Life but admitted he was really involved to meet girls and have fun in all the different activities. I asked if he feared God. He didn't see why he should, especially since he does so many good things. He is a manager at work and is proud of the way he does his job with integrity. I explained that, although we may feel like we are doing good things, we are really only doing what God rightfully expects of us. I talked about God's judgment and how we all want His justice to be served and for bad people to be punished; - that is until we discover that we, too, deserve punishment - then we want mercy. Our conversation was covering a lot of ground but then the baseball game ended and Matt realized he needed to catch up with his girlfriend. Another unfinished conversation, but I believe it was enough to get Matt interested in reading the additional info I gave him.