More Than a Carpenter

This is the bracelet that I wear nowadays. For a short time I thought these symbols would make a cool tattoo until I saw someone wearing it as a bracelet. For those who don't know, it means, "He came, He died, He arose, He ascended, & He's coming back." The entire gospel in 5 easy symbols. This bracelet has led to a few interesting conversations, and one happened just the other night.

I was meeting with some of my German and Peace Corps friends that I had met here in San Marcos. They brought some other friends along, so we were all doing the "Hey, so where are you from?" stuff. One of the girls eventually asked me what my bracelet meant. So, I told her.
"Are you a faithful person?" She then asked.
"I'd like to think so," I answered.
"Are you a Christian?"
"Do you want the short or long answer?"
(Also for those who don't know, my short answer is 'yes' but I normally like to answer in a different way because so many people have bad stereotypes for Christians.) I gave her both answers.
"And you?" I asked.
"I grew up Jewish but have kind of formed my own faith."
"Hey, the best man to ever walk this earth was Jewish."
"Yea, I think so too, but I don't think He's my Savior or anything like that."
That really made my heart and mind start racing. I can't just sit here and not tell her the truth. But is now the right time? How aggressive should I be? I decided I had to say something. I couldn't just let that go.
"Can I share my thoughts about that?" I then said.
"Sure."
"Well, there are really only 3 possibilities for who Jesus is and was." I continued to explain the 'Lord, Liar, Lunatic' expression that Josh McDowell writes about in his book, More Than a Carpenter. I told her that Jesus doesn't give us the option to think that he was simply a very righteous man with good teaching.
"That is very interesting," she responded, or at least she said something like that.

There was a part of me that wanted to tell her that I wasn't leaving until she admitted that Jesus was THE Savior and even more, HER Savior. The Chinese Christian Brother Yun from the book The Heavenly Man (an amazing true story by the way) wouldn't have let her walk away without getting a full confession, prayer of repentance, and then baptism. I struggled with what was my role and the Holy Spirit's role in this situation. I know the Holy Spirit is the only one who can convict the soul, but we have a very vital part to play. And I didn't want to use that as an excuse not to push her to realize the truth. Well, we talked a little further about faith and other things, but that was about all. I just hope that those words of truth about Jesus resonate in her mind, and she chooses to search for the truth on her own.