This morning when I woke up I had a pretty good idea of how my day was going to go. I would get ready for church and then go with Kayla, we would come back and get a quick lunch at McSketch (the shady McDonalds near campus), and then rush off to the Chinese New Year parade in China town. Plans so far were going exactly according to schedule, and I was about done with my fries ready to head off to China town. But God had a different plan...
Right then a lady (named Donna) sits on a stool a couple seats away from us and bluntly asks us, "Are you going to heaven?". We both shyly answered yes. Then she asks us how we knew. We both explained to her that we are Christians and that we accepted Jesus into our heart and we trust Him for the forgiveness of our sins. I kept checking the clock, wanting this conversation to be brief since we were in a hurry. Donna kept evangelizing to us until she finally believed that we were both genuine Christians. After that, she turned and focused her attention to the young college aged girl sitting across from her. Donna asked her the same question, "Are you going to heaven?". This girl replied with the fact that she is a Muslim. This sparked a long conversation about assurance of salvation, the divinity of Jesus, and the Trinity. Donna and the Muslim girl discussed back and forth about their beliefs. Meanwhile, Kayla and I just sat there in amazement of the unexpected situation we found ourselves in. We chipped into the conversation here and there, but Kayla and I both were just amazed by Donna's boldness in sharing the Gospel. I love evangelizing to people, but when someone tells me that they follow another religion, I tend to shy away. I get scared of offending someone or "shoving the Gospel down their throats". But this woman had no fear in proclaiming Christ and had no fear in asking the hard, thought provoking questions. I admired that so much.
I wish I could say that this story ended with the girl accepting Christ, because that would be awesome. But it didn't. However, the Gospel seed was planted in this girls heart. We had a chance to talk about Jesus and pray with her, which doesn't happen often! Kayla and I ended up missing the parade, since this conversation went on for over an hour. But it was so worth it. God divinely places all of us there at the right time for his purpose to be accomplished. We got the chance to serve with another believer, and spread the love of Christ to an unbeliever. What God had planned for us today was way better than the fun plans that we had made. I guess the moral of the story is that God can use you for his glory at any time at any place, and the unexpected opportunities that come up are the best ones.
