WANDERING CHRISTIAN
There are lots of weirdo's out there. Or maybe that is what some would just have us believe. Have you ever had some random person come talk to you? It is a rather strange situation. I always feel a bit wary. Usually, they have strong personalities that drive the conversation. They tend to repeat themselves and go on and on. For most polite asians, we don't know how to cut off the conversation without being rude. Most of the time, we end up a bit frustrated that the person cannot read our subtle hints that we just don't want to talk to them. Well, actually I am a bit different. I really enjoy talking to people. I want to get into their head. "What is your angle", I always wonder. How is it that this person came to talk to strangers like this. I remember talking to one lady at disneyland. She went to the magic kingdom at least three times a week and was an avid collector of disney pins. There was also the guy I met while snowboarding who gave me marriage advice. He told me, "The secret to having a lasting marriage, is to give in to whatever the wife wants."

As a Christian, I am always worried about fellow Christians who do that. We have a bad enough name without some crazy going around and messing with our rep. I remember a strange guy with a cool 50's hat overheard (easedropped) on a conversation I was having at Starbucks, and decided to ask about my church and our role in it. He considered himself a church planter. I dunno. I got a bad vibe from him. Not that he was pure evil, but that there was more going on. Anyways, my most recent experience was this past weekend with a gentleman named Rueben, whom I affectionately call "the wandering Christian".

It was Saturday evening and I was waiting around for one of our church functions to start. I was passing the time talking to Daryl and Wendy in a lounge area next the the church offices. It was about 6pm and the rain had been on and off all day. Wendy was talking around the highschool drama that all freshman girls go through. Well, as we had our innocent little conversation, a middle aged White (hispanic?) guy walked in. He was kind of dirty, had a very kind face, and had curly hair parted down the middle to his chin. I immediately was on guard. Was he homeless? Is he going to attack us? I had better make sure he doesn't get too close to Wendy. The kindly face only made me more aware of the fact that this guy may be 'one of those'.

So he started talking. "I saw something was going on, and was wondering if it was a service. Blah blah this. Blah blah that. I love Children (immediately, red flags going off in my head). I like to visit churches. Gotta watch out for the Satanists." I wasn't liking what I was hearing. I didn't like it one bit. First of all, Daryl was obviously on polite mode, and Wendy was just plain freaked. This guy just kept talking and talking, repeating how great it is that we take care of the "little children". We didn't want to be assholes, so we talked to him a bit. We would tell him when our church service started... what we are all about... all that, but I was honestly getting more and more worried. Eventually when I could no longer bear it, I stood up, walked towards him, and waited for my moment.

"Hey, want to continue this conversation outside?"

"Sure!"

So he and I head outside into the cold rain, find a fairly dry spot just inside the ampethetier and continue our conversatoin. "I didn't mean to be rude, but I wasn't sure if they were feeling comfortable, but since I wanted to talk to you, I thought we would continue our conversation out here."

"No problem man, I understand."

So we got into it more outside. I had more room to direct the conversation so I started to ask him where he was from, what he does, where he goes to church, why in God's name does he talk about Children so much...

The funny thing was that the longer I talked to him, the less wary I felt. Yeah, he was strange. Yeah, he walks around and goes to visit Churches all the time. Yeah he talks to random people about God. What of it? Everything he said about God rang true to me. He didn't say anything weird, or demented or scary. In fact, it was pretty bibilical. In fact, there is nothing wrong with going around and being a wandering Chrisitan, talking to different people about Christ. We talked about having the love of Christ inside you. We talked about being filled with the holy spirit. We talked about knowing scripture. We talked about temptation and sin. It was all there, and for the most part everything was on the up and up. We talked about how when you love the Father, you can't help but want to do his will. That you can't help but be filled with love for others.

Even more important that what he said, I got a sense that "this guy is alright." His kindly face wasn't a mask, he was just nice. I believe that people can give off a vibe, and you need to trust it. But my instincts were telling me to trust this guy. I told him honestly what I thought, and he was very accepting. I was like, "you are one crazy cat, but everything you say so far is cool with me." We talked about how his casual dress, and slightly dirty hands make him a bit scary (he works in construction). He told me about how the police pull him over when he is walking around, how pastors point him out when he visits churches. But he was very graceful about the whole thing, even if he did (according to him) come to either shame them or become friends eventually. Whenever he got slightly out there, I pressed him on it. It was funny when he said how we shouldn't worship aliens. In my head, i thought "... and it was going so well. sigh. he is just another weirdo." So when i told him he was getting weird again, he explained, "i mean, IF they exist, they are still God's creation and under God. We shouldn't worship the aliens." I could buy that. About the satan worshipers... He truely believes they are out there. He believes they are hidden from most of us. I didn't know what to say about that, but I could see his perspective.

The most impressive part of the conversation though, was when he talked about his experience in healing people. I know that most Christians act as if healing doesn't even exist now, but I think it can. Though I have had no experience with it, I wouldn't doubt it exists. So when I asked him about it, I had all my little tests out there. But you know what? He passed them all. He gave no credit to himself, he said that God does all the work. There were times God didn't heal the person. All he tries to do is be filled with love for the person. It is hard to describe, but it really made quite an impression on me. I was down with his faith and love for people. The healing wasn't the point, it was his obvious love for people.

Suffice to say that the conversation went for a long time, and instead of me wrapping it up, we eventually both had to go. I felt good about it. He may be weird, and yeah, he may not be right about everything he says, but I honestly feel that God is with him. In my humble opinion, there isn't anything wrong with what he does. Didn't Jesus go around and talk to people too? Right.
posted by michael at 8:51 AM |