"At least we both like tea"

“At least we both like tea,” I quipped slightly awkwardly as the student leader of the “tea club” let me know she was an atheist. I was at the UMBC student involvement fest, helping out at the Newman Club’s table (Catholic Campus Ministry). I decided to walk around a bit and meet some people and maybe even invite them to our upcoming Following Christ course.  

“Well,” I continued, “are you involved in an atheist club or something?” This threw her off a bit as I think her disclosure of being an atheist was more of a way to decline my invite to the Following Christ course.

Her response was a bit indicative, “Well, I’m not really a hard-core atheist, I’m more agnostic, you know, I’m actually looking into some different religions a bit, like, mainly eastern religions.  I kind of like Hinduism, but I’m not sure, and Buddhism is cool, but they don’t believe in love.”  

So, suddenly her “atheism” was going away a bit... I responded, “well, what about Jesus? You know, Gandhi liked Jesus, he didn’t really get down with the whole Christian thing, but what do you think?”  She retorted, “He’s cool... I actually grew up Catholic but I don’t like organized religion anymore.”  Thinking on my feet, “well I grew up Catholic too and got away from my faith, I was practically atheist, but things changed, and the only reason I’m Catholic is because of Jesus...”  Ha, it’s true :0

As I saw that she was thinking a bit and our short conversation was coming to an end, I switched subjects back to the “unifying factor” of tea!  My wife found this quite funny later when I told her- “At least we both like tea!” Anyway, I went back to the “Catholic” table, which led me to walk past the Hindu table, gay & lesbian table, the Asian Christian table, and the Libertarian party table – quite a modern day Areopagus.  

I had to get going, but I remembered that as I walked into the “fest” I was given a free Nalgene bottle.  Yeah!  Pretty nice!  Anyway, I knew I didn’t need it and I looked at the side of the bottle and there was a Web site in small letters, http://www.notyourmamasreligion.com A Web site I just found out that points students and young adults to make faith in Jesus their own.  

So, as I left, I stopped by the “tea club” again and asked my new “atheist” friend if she wanted a Nalgene bottle.  “Wow, yes, I actually have been wanting one of these, thanks!” she responded as she happily took the bottle.  

As I left I said a prayer for her and asked Mary to pray for her as well... that the Holy Spirit would continue to stir a search in her for “true religion” and “love” - found in the person of the God who self-disclosed himself to us most wonderfully in Jesus Christ.

May our gracious God and Father continue to use us to be instruments of Jesus’ love and truth. Amen!

What about you? Have you had a random experience like this? Has God used you lately to “plant a seed,” even just a little one (think of the mustard seed’s capability!)?  Please comment below!