Two weeks ago we met Michael. He claimed that he did not believe in God and called himself an atheist. He grew up in the former East Germany. He said he really liked Keri and I and called us 'really positive people.' I am not sure if that is a compliment or not but I took it as one.
When he said he did not believe in God I told him, 'that is ok because God believes in you.' This caught him off guard and caused him to laugh a little sheepishly. Suddenly he began speaking of different things calling attention to times when he has taken the moral high ground on various matters.
A week later (last week) we met again. He asked me, "David are you sure you want to stay in the S**t country? The only thing we have going for us is our healthcare system." I said, "Michael, there are roughly 80 million people in this country who either do not believe God loves them of think He has forgotten about them. Yet that is not true because Jesus has sent us here to communicate this message to them. In fact God sent His Son, Jesus, to convey this very message many years ago. Because God loves these people so do I. God has given me a job to do and I must do it."
He laughs a little at me and says again that he does not believe in God. I told him again that God believes in him. He sees how He created Michael to be. God looks at the original design and says it is good. What we see is the part that is damaged and broken by sin and pain and suffering and stuff. My purpose in being in that chair having that conversation was to communicate that God has determined that He is aiming to reconcile Michael fully back to Himself and what He was originally intended to be.
Michael leans back in the chair and after a long pause says, "I do believe there is a God but I don't know what it is." I told him, "Michael if you really want to know then the bible says 'you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." If you want to know you must come to God on His terms and ask Him if what I am telling you is for real. He said, "I want to do that." Michael and I prayed and I left Michael with him telling me he wants to pray for me every day.
Next week we start to explore more of who Jesus is and start helping Michael walk out his faith. Please be praying for this man. We are eager to see what Jesus has in store for this man.