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"He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord."
Psalm 33:5
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Witnessing at 30,000 Feet
Witnessing at 30,000 Feet
My flight home from the Academy was scheduled for 3:45 pacific standard time, but wouldn't land until 11:45 eastern time. On my flight out to LA, the gentleman sitting next to me slept the entire flight, leaving me no opportunity to talk with him about the gospel. I had been praying that this flight would be different. God definitely answered that prayer.I ended up sitting next to a woman named Jane. Luckily, she was a very talkative, polite woman, making the conversation we shared very easy to keep going. When I first sat down she asked me, "Do you know how to send e-mails on Blackberries [a cell phone]?" I told her I didn't, but tried to help her with it anyway. She then asked me what I was doing in LA. I told her that I was participating in a Christian evangelism Academy. Her face lit up and she said, "Good for you."
I was surprised by her answer, so I asked, "Do you have a Christian background?" She said she didn't, but was Jewish. After a couple moments of silence, she pulled out a book and began reading a little bit.
I asked what she was reading and asked her if she read much. After telling me about the book, she asked if I liked to read. I told her I did, especially books about worldviews and theology. "I like to know what people believe. So get ready because I will probably ask you what you believe later in the flight." She smiled.
The conversation died out again. Fear began to build. I don't want to make this flight awkward, maybe I will just not bring the gospel up. But what would happen if that flight crashed? Odds are she would go to hell. The thought forced me to bring up the gospel. The flight attendants brought us some food, and we began talking some more. Jane began to tell me about what she did for a living. She was a head publicist for a magazine that helped a variety of companies.
"We have a lot of evangelical Christians with our magazine. It is good, but sometimes it is tough because my husband doesn't always see eye to eye with them."
"Really? What would you say are the main differences between a Jewish and Christian faith?"
She began by saying that that one thing she definitely disagreed with Christians on was homosexuality. She told me that her son was gay, and she was very strong on the issue. She was clearly trying to find out my opinion on the matter. I wouldn't bite. The conversation was young, and I didn't want this woman to not hear the gospel because her son was a homosexual, and she didn't like that I didn't support it. If I had come out and said right off the bat, "Being gay is a sin and all homosexuals will have their part in the lake of fire." I would have no doubt lost my fish.
I shared the Law and gospel with her using a sort of testimony approach ("I realized that I had lied, which makes me a liar. That is sin in the eyes of God. Etc."). I shared the gospel with her and asked her views about it. This sparked a 45 minute conversation in which we discussed everything from abortion, to open air preaching, to how to share the gospel one-to-one.
Jane asked me if I talk to people about this kind of thing often. I told her I did as much as I could, and explained that the existence of hell forced me to do so. She seemed to understand, and smiled at me. "So when you approach people on the street, how do you do it?"
Incredible! A lost person was asking me how to share the gospel. I took her through a model conversation, again sharing the gospel with her. She had a ton of questions, and I did my best to answer them. She asked me about abortion, why I used the 10 Commandments, and why I believed Christianity to be true.
"I respect you and your beliefs, but it is just so black and white." She had a hard time grasping that anybody who did not put their faith in Christ would spend an eternity in hell. After that, she again brought up homosexuality.
"So, if scientists noticed the gay gene in a child, do you think it would be OK to abort it?" We had already discussed abortion a little bit, so I was surprised when she brought homosexuality into the discussion again.
I told her it is never OK to abort a child. Being gay does not justify murder. [I know there is not a 'gay gene' so her comment was irrelevant. But I didn't want to go there with the conversation, she probably would have gotten angry and I would have lost her.] She kept bringing up the homosexuality issue, so I told her my view very briefly, "The Bible says homosexuality is wrong, there is no question there. But whether you are gay or not, you have still lied, stolen, etc." And I again took her through the Law, completely avoiding the topic. Again, I knew a debate on homosexuality would make me lose my fish.
At the end of the conversation, I gave her a book I love to give lost people called One Heartbeat Away, by Mark Cahill. She said she would read it, and thanked me for being so polite and honest during the conversation. Please pray for Jane, her son, and her family. Perhaps the Lord will use the seed that was planted to save that entire family!
If you fly often (or rarely) the Lord is giving you such a golden opportunity to share the gospel with somebody. Think about it, where are they going to go? They can't leave. The net has no holes in it, the fish can't get away! So, here is my challenge to you. Next time to get on an airplane, be sure to have a conversation with the person next to you, instead of reading a magazine the entire time. The eternity of the soul sitting next to you hangs in the balance.