It was a night shared amongst the set of a French movie being filmed, yet we knew that there would be a man or two that would be willing to talk to us. Some men walked by without acknowledging our presence, some stopped and politely listened for a few minutes and then he came. A man who would take up the rest of the night. He was from Europe, he was intelligent and quite knowledgeable about faith. Yet like many men we meet, and where we once used to be, there is quite a difference between knowing Him in your mind and intimately knowing Him within your heart. We talked about many things that night, topics ranging from science, King Hezekiah, poverty and justice and our belief in the goodness of God.
I know that when we get into intelligent and thought provoking conversations such as with this man it is possible to be drawn into needless debate and differing opinions. Did I win this man with my vast array of knowledge, highly doubtful. Did I persuade this man with smooth words and effortless one-liners, definitely not. So, what is it about this particular conversation that was memorable to me? It was the point when he said “you are a prince among thieves”. What does that mean? It means we did not fit his stereotype of Christians in a red-light district. It means that we talked with him, not at him. It means that we saw him as a person, not a perpetrator. It means that this particular man just might have left the conversation thinking that His love is indeed real.
End of article.