I wanted to take a quick break from my usual theological blog posts to instead share an encouraging story from my recent trip to Chicago. After my interview with Shure on Wednesday I took a cab back to O’Hare airport. As soon as I got in the cab I noticed something very unexpected: the driver was listening to K-Love (a national Christian radio station). Upon commenting on his great choice of Christian music my driver mentioned that he was a Catholic and a friend of his had recommended the station to him.
My driver had clearly been hurt by a lot of people in his life. Additionally he was not very content with his Catholic church. He continued going because it was somewhat of a tradition. I quickly found that his church, like many Catholic churches, had at no point made an effort to reach out and get to know him. Even worse, over all of the years that he had attended this church he had never heard the gospel. It was really cool how God used me in this situation. My driver had been listening to K-Love for quite some time yet I was the first person to ever comment on it. A thought going through my head right now is: “are there really that few Christians bold enough to stand for Christ?” “Are there really so few people in our world that get excited at the mention of Jesus?”
It is really difficult to explain the joy that I felt being able to share the gospel with someone in his position. His church seemed to continually tell him that he had to do this, pray that, sing a particular song, etc. The look on his face upon hearing that Christianity is not about what he has to do but rather about what God has already done for us was absolutely amazing. Even writing this on my flight home a few hours later almost brings a tear of joy to my eyes.
I could also really see how God used a lot of my remote Chicago-land church searching for this situation. I was even able to share with him some churches that I was considering attending (pending a job offer) that he would be much more likely to enjoy and actually be filled with the joy of God’s grace.
Even if I don’t get a job offer from this interview I am blown away by how God used this trip for his glory. I was really encouraged by the incredible ministry opportunities that living in a large city presents. I was even presented with the opportunity to share the incredible story of St. Patrick’s life with an Irish Catholic (my former Shure manager). Through both my recent spring break trip with the Navigators working with the homeless in Atlanta and this trip God has really shown me his heart for the broken people dwelling in America’s cities as well as the need for Christians to share the gospel in these areas.
Additionally, it was really great to see a lot of the guys that I worked with over the summer that I interned here. I think you know that you have found a great company to work for when you not only love the products that your company makes, you work in an absolutely amazing building, enjoy everyone you work with, and your former manager sacrifices time with his family to instead take a relatively long drive to pick you up from the airport and take you out for dinner.
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