"God is Awesome!" These were the only words in my Instant Messenger profile. Nothing about my work, school, religious affiliation, or even my social standing. People would only find me if they were - for lack of a better term - searching for "God".
So it was a bit curious when someone popped up desiring a conversation. I accepted, and this began a seven month long conversation with a young man who sought to show me in every intellectual way how God didn't exist, how he didn't need God, and how I was weak if I chose to believe. He'd come back, day after day, and assert that God was only a phychological construction for the weak-minded, how numerous learned people had given great thought to God's existence and had determined there was no God. And he shared their opinion. There was no God, and I was misleading people by even conversing about the matter.
Each day, I would greet him in a friendly manner. I gave him hour after hour of my attention, choosing to show my interest in him as a person rather than to "win" the argument. In many of the conversations, I would agree with him - to a point. But then I'd share with him about my life, and how I had witnessed things in my life that defied logic. I would tell him that I too was an intellectual sorta guy, but there was a gap in my knowledge. Some things I'd experienced in my own life just didn't fit into the realm of human knowledge. I explained to him that I labeled that gap FAITH, and that no amount of human reason seemed capable of reaching across that gap. Faith just required..... well, FAITH.
He told me, over and over, how I was wrong, how I needed to denounce my God, to remove "God is Awesome!" from my profile. I kindly and politely said the profile accurately described me, and it would stay. Finally, he stopped visiting. I prayed for him, and silently wished him well.
Six months later, this young man re-visited my instant messenger, but when he popped up on my screen, he began with three words:
"God IS Awesome!"
You see, this young man had found God in his own life, and was now telling his friends and family about how God had saved him!
I praise God I was able to witness to this young man's life, and that - Lord willing - I'll meet him when we both cross over.
2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
© 2008 Scotty Ward
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