Will. Don’t know his last name. Sophomore in college. Curly hair, light and blonde, man bun. Lanky and soft voiced. At first you approach him and he may seem quiet and rushed to class. He says you can walk with him though, and you start asking him the interview questions for your religion class, witnessing to him in the process. You ask him about where we came from and he doesn’t quite know. Then you ask about the meaning of life, his purpose. His answers strike you sad. Depressing. You have walked across the campus and finally reach the building where he has his next class. You expect the conversation to be over but he doesn’t want to leave. He says he has a few minutes, and so you sit down on a bench in the cool autumn air, him tugging on his hoodie and shorts as he stares at the ground and tells part of his life story. This happened to me. Yesterday I was with two other people witnessing at a university, using the approach of asking interview questions for our class. I didn’t talk much because this was literally my first time and I’m sure I would be stuck on what to say. (More updates on that later once I actually do this.) But my actual first time as a college student witnessing really gave me a passion I had never ever seen before. So we had been talking to a few people and this person was the last one we had time to talk to. His life story was rather sad. We sat down on the bench and he told us he grew up with just his mom, and while she had never been particularly opposed to religion she never took him to church. She said he could decide for himself but never taught him what to believe. I was shocked when he said he never had any negative thoughts about religion, it was just not something that he had ever really been taught or heard about. He almost sounded like a lost soul wanting to hear more about it. Just waiting for the chance, the opportunity. And you know what? We had it, and we lost it. We witnessed, but never actually clearly presented the gospel to him. Why? I don’t know. I thought about asking him what he thought the basic message of the Bible was but all we ended up doing was recommending him to a Christian ministry and hoping he would check it out. I’m not sure why, maybe we just thought we didn’t have enough time. He was a very nice and patient man, and looked sincere that he would look into the Bible and the ministry. We said our goodbyes and as we walked away we suddenly realized we had missed a chance. An opportunity. My heart slightly broke and my throat choked up as we prayed for that poor man who had never really been taught the gospel. I hope he has an opportunity to come to Christ someday very soon.
Something I learned from my first time witnessing at a university…. They are not actually all mad at Christians as I formerly thought. In fact some of them actually are Christians (probably few and far between). But some of them just haven’t thought about it. In fact one guy we talked to said he didn’t know how we got here but he was just here to enjoy life while we were here. It was the most depressing mindset, no purpose to your life, and no place to go, no reason for living. I could not imagine a life without God or him helping me throughout the day. Doing everything on my own and waiting for the day I die and go into the ground. No motivation for life except having a good time. It struck me how many people there (and all throughout the world) probably think that way. We need to tell them there is someone who made them and who cares for them! You don’t have to go to Mexico to be a missionary. There’s a mission field right in our backyard. Like 5 minutes away. Maybe we don’t want to hold up a sign all day or pass out a million tracts but we can become friends with people and strike up deep conversations that make them think about the important things of life. Sharing Jesus and how he has changed our lives! And most importantly praying for them! I regret that we did not exactly share how to become saved with the guy we met yesterday. But I will forever remember him and hope I will see him one day in heaven. I know I have learned a lesson and from this, a passion for missions in my own backyard. Now next time I actually have to do it. 11/9/18
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about the authorAs a 21 year old aspiring teacher, Karissa loves to write, travel, play piano, and read. Many creative things have her heart. archives
November 2021
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