I was on my way to work one morning and I had to put gas in the truck. I have a bad habit of waiting until the next morning to put gas instead of putting gas when I see that I need it. This morning wasn’t like other mornings. This time, I had a visitor. As I was waiting for my tank to fill up, I heard a woman’s voice say, “Good Morning!”. I turned around and I saw this woman approaching me. She asked how I was doing, and I said I was doing good as I was clinching my fist getting ready to defend myself in case she was some kind of decoy. She started talking about this pamphlet she handed me, and I realized pretty quick that she was a Jehovah’s witness.
Now, I don’t understand anything about their religion or anything they actually believe, I just know that they like to knock on people’s door in hopes to bring people to their church. This wasn’t the first time this happened to me this year. In fact, a man approached me at a different gas station and was talking about the same thing this woman was talking about. This lady had brought up a verse in revelations that described the coming of Jesus. I can’t remember the exact verse, but it was talking about the coming of Jesus and how everything will be washed away. She asked me what I thought it means, and I told her that its basically saying that when Jesus comes, everything and every sin will be wiped clean and the believers will start fresh in the kingdom of heaven. She was surprised by my answer, I guess she assumed that I didn’t know anything about the bible and that my truck and the Breaking Benjamin sticker on my back window told her that I needed to be saved.
She started talking about her interpretation of the verse and something she said reminded me of the story of Job. Of course, I can’t quote specific verses like devoted Christians can, but I told her, “What I find interesting is that most people forget that keeping the faith is just as important as finding faith. Like with Job, God wanted to prove to Satan that Job was a faithful servant and he allowed Satan to attack him. While Job’s faith was tested to limits of his faith, in the end, he stood strong with his faith until his dying breath. Now, as our modern-day society continues to evolve and we dive deeper and deeper into the pleasures of what the world has to offer us in the form of vanity and technology, it’s hard to remember to keep the faith and to keep the relationship with God. That’s the one thing that will save us all in the end and that’s why no matter what happens in my life, I’m glad I have God on my side.”
Now, most people will tell you that I don’t normally talk like that because I don’t like pushing my opinions on others and I don’t like to offend people if they don’t believe, but something inside me decided it wanted to speak up. Sure, I talk about this kind of stuff with my family and those close to me, but not complete strangers. Actually, I didn’t think I had enough of an understanding of the bible to hold a conversation about it since I can’t quote bible verses, but I remember the stories.
After I got done with my little testimony, that woman looked at me as if I had completely blown her mind and was completely shocked that I related the story of Job to that one specific bible verse she wanted to talk about. She didn’t stick around to finish the conversation but it’s ok, I had to get to work.
I think it’s funny that people can take one look at me and assume that I’m a certain way or fall in a certain category. You can call is racism, you can call it profiling, you can call it whatever you want, but the only thing people don’t call me is my name. I’m a person who doesn’t like to impose on others, I’m a person who likes to be left alone, I’m a person who likes to be nerdy at times and I’m a person who wants to be accepted like anyone else. I am simply a man living in this crazy world. Judge me how you want, but just know that your judgement means nothing to me compared to one that can judge me.
Happy Easter Everyone!
- Adam
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