It only takes a spark

I've gotten into the habit recently of following Dan Edelen's blog over at ceruleansanctum.com. In a recent post he poses for discussion the (to me) doubtful statistic that it takes 15-25 encounters with God before a person is born again.

I don't think that quantitative analysis lends itself to matters of the Spirit. Souls are not widgets, and the second birth is not a statistically predictable outcome which you can relate to a certain number of inputs.

There is only one kind of encounter which can make a difference in a person's life, and that is an encounter with the Holy Spirit. This can take place through any means which God chooses - through the printed word, through persons Christian and non-Christian, or Christians worthy and unworthy. A good description of how diverse influences can bring a person to put his faith in Jesus Christ may be found in C.S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy. In it Lewis ascribes a role to, among other things, Norse mythology which aroused in him a sense of the Sublime which he later found to be realized in its fulness in the Christian faith.

One of Edelen's concerns is the negative effect of a seeker's encounter with the graceless Christian. How many "good" God encounters does it take to overcome the effect of a single professing hypocrite? But the spirituality of the message bearer is not always important. The input which precipitated my decision for Christ was a sermon by a radio evangelist who descended from a gospel presentation straight into a cheesy money pitch. But it didn't matter to me whether his motives were pure or crass; his message resonated within me in such a way that I experienced it as God's invitation, not his.

At some point the good news must be heard to be responded to, but sometimes the critical influence is nonverbal. The clearest feedback I have ever received that something I did or said has had a lasting spiritual effect came 12 years ago when I received a call out of the blue from BC.

"Hello, this is Gurdev, do you remember me?"

Yes, I did. We had worked together 8 years before, but I didn't know him well and hadn't seen him since. He had had a nervous breakdown and checked himself into the psychiatric ward of the local hospital. I had visited him once on the ward, didn't talk about God, just asked how he was. And I prayed for him, not in his presence but later in private. A week later Gurdev was discharged, returned to work very briefly, then quit or was let go and dropped out of sight.

"You're a Christian, aren't you?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"When I was in the psych ward, none of the guys I partied with came to see me. You were the only one who came. I just want you to know that I am doing well now. I'm married with two kids and have a good job."

We chatted a bit and said goodbye, and afterwards I marvelled. Somehow my brief visit had affected Gurdev over the years to the extent that he had traced me down just to say thank me. Not only that, but he had evidently seen enough of Christian grace since that time that he was able to look back 8 years in memory and recognise its savour in that act. I felt deeply blessed that God had seen fit to let me know in this way that He was using me.

I don't know if Gurdev was yet a believer when he called, but if not, I can't help believing that someday he will be. Once one has felt the living water, one gets a thirst for it and wants it for himself.

Do I want to be more effective in my God appointments? Yes I do, and I try to achieve that by cultivating a habit of praying for the people I run into during the day and by listening for the direction of the Spirit in relating to them. But I don't do it with the idea that my little contribution will mechanically add together with others' to produce a new life in Christ after an average of 20 God appointments, with a standard deviation of 5.

The spark of love that God can shed through me or any believer in a single encounter may be the one that ignites a blaze which will burn in that person's life for eternity.