Gone Fishin' TwoSample

Adrian - roaming college student from Ohio with his bike at a bus stop

Adrian stopped me as I walked by and asked if I knew where the Metro was.

I gave him instructions and while I was doing it I thought, Lord do you want me to spend more time with this guy, I sensed he said "Of course. Double Joy coming."

So I asked him what in the world he was doing out here. He told me he left his folks and came to California from Ohio and has been here for 2 months and is on his way now to go check out San Bernardino.

I asked him what it has been like? He said adventuresome, dangerous, cold, and that he'd been robbed and he doesn't even have any ID now. Still, he's not in a rush to head home.

It reminded me of my 35 day trip from San Bernardino to the New York World's Fair in 1964 with my friend Rich. No money. So we could trust in God and share the gospel.

But Adrian was not trusting in God.

It turns out Adrian is not a bum. He's just a searching 20+ guy. With all the intellectualism that goes along with it.

Thinking it might be the end of our conversation I said: "Is there something you would like for me to pray for you about Adrian?"

He thought about it and said, "Yeah, there's such evil going on in this world." I agreed and said, "But what about you personally?" He said "Well, pray for my Mom and Dad. I know this is hard on them, me being here."

I said, "Sure, will do. Before we do that would you mind if I shared something with you that might help you as you kind of wish you had a little peace about your Mom and Dad?"

He said "No problem." So we sat down and I opened up the PDF file from the Billy Graham evangelistic association called Steps To Peace With God and we began to read through it together.

I asked him questions along the way to see if he was following along and he was.

Just before the prayer to become a Christian it says there are four things that you need to agree to before you do it. The first one was to Admit you're a Sinner.

I asked Adrian if he agreed with that statement, and what did he think about it. 15 minutes later we had gone around the world discussing who is a sinner, who isn't a sinner, what sin is, what isn't a sin and how could a sin keep you from getting to heaven.

Not being sure I would ever make any progress on that one but having given it my best shot I moved on to the second item - "Repent, and be willing to turn from your sin."

Naturally, if you're not sure that you're a sinner it's pretty hard to turn from it. We discussed that for another 10 minutes.

Not wanting to press too hard I moved on to step number three. "BELIEVE that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross." Then we had the discussion, "Did he really die?"10 more minutes :-)

Step #4, Receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior just didn't fit.

So I said "Adrian, here's where it sits. There will be a judgment day. And the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ will be there. My challenge is that you examine and come to your own conclusions about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Until you can settle that fact you are in limbo and judgment day could possibly be even today for you."

I said, "Would you still like for me to pray for you?"

He said, "Of course." And we sat down and I prayed.

I praised the Lord for allowing me to meet Adrian and asked for God's protection on him and prayed for peace for his Mom and Dad.

Afterward, I said, "Well I wish I could give you some money even though you haven't asked for any but I don't have any."

So I took off my Ark Encounter blue hat that I love and I plopped it on his head. He gave me a big grin because he had said at the very first he liked my hat.

We hugged and he took off on his bike towards the Metro with his large backpack .

"Thank you Lord for answering my prayer this morning to be able to share the good news of Jesus Christ not just once but twice. Holy Spirit, remind Adrian of the things that I read from the Scripture and the words "Ark Encounter" on the front of his hat. Use the hat to move Adrian one step closer to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

To God be the glory!

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. — Timothy Keller, The Reason for God

Be Encouraged. Be Inspired.

Have GOALS

Go. Open Your Mouth. Ask Questions. Love. Share your story.

Please say a prayer for Adrian. Thank you.