The Everyday Club

4/9/11 Diane, about 50
I was jogging by an office building with Lucy, our miniature schnauzer, and I noticed a lady (Diane) out for a smoke break, and - judging from the smile on her face when she saw my dog – she was obviously a dog lover. I used this as an opportunity for a Gospel conversation and soon found out that Diane believes in some sort of a higher power and likes the idea of heaven, having experienced a spiritual high while climbing a mountain in California, but says hell is what she is going through right now, here on earth. I tried to be sensitive to tragedies she has experienced in life, and found out she has recently lost her mother due to a long drawn-out battle with cancer, which brought her a lot of anger at God. . She had a church upbringing, but without even realizing it she has been rejecting the biblical view of God. I explained how we must be careful to trust God’s revelation of himself rather than our own imagination of Him, because we worship a false idol when we do so. She began speaking about God on His terms, and we went on to a good talk about what it means to be in a right relationship to Him. A question later on helped her see she had no right to be angry at God – “What does God owe you?” – and by this time she could see that she shouldn’t demand justice, but should ask for mercy.