My colleague James and I wanted to ask him if he knew the meaning of Christmas, and perhaps move the conversation from the natural to the supernatural. Before our witnessing plans began, we had prayed that God would open doors for us and give us the right words to say. I'd brought along an icebreaker to start, so I simply walked up smiling and in my friendliest voice asked "...hey can you tell me which of these cards is bigger?" I held up each of the 3" inch cards, one blue and one red. They had been cut in a semi-circle and one of the cards optically appeared to be much longer than the other, although in fact they were both the same identical size..
In barely a flash the conversation had begun and he had picked the "larger" card as his choice. The three of us shared a laugh as I then super-imposed them upon each other, clearly demonstrating that they were in fact both the same size...much to his amazement! I quickly continued, "....actually my friend and I are just here tonight in the mall asking people if they know the meaning of Christmas?
His instant and very lengthy reply was that Christmas originated as a Nordic tradition that involved reindeer, men in red suits, magic mushrooms and a host of select things and events I'd never heard of before. His detailed answer to our simply query told us he had actually in his own way put a lot of thought into some aspect of the spiritual world. His body likewise bore witness to our observation as we observed multiple silver skull rings decorating his fingers, while numerous occultist hand and arm tattoos embellished his exposed skin. A goatee seemed to confirm his preference of spiritual worlds as he began to tell us his chest contained a large tattoo of Satan. But he quickly added that during the past four years he had been thinking that the tattoo hadn't been such a good idea, and he was now sorry for that tattoo. He seemed very willing to listen to our version of the christian meaning of Christmas and yet sat solemn-faced as we conversed. He flat out told us that, "...I am a very bad person; and I do a lot of drugs. You'd be surprised who I am, but I'm trying to change my life". He introduced himself as Calvin and we all shook hands.
While he might have done a lot of drugs he was nonetheless still a very articulate young man capable of understanding right from wrong and how he could be better in life. He seemed genuinely glad to be talking about himself to us. His admissions seemed only to confirm that it was no accident we had come across this man who seemed to be searching for meaning to his life. But, he soon added that he just didn't see where Christians came from thinking that Christmas had anything to do with God. At that juncture, I offered the obvious; ....that the first 6 letters of Christmas were C H R I S T. A look of bewilderment overwhelmed his face as if a curtain had been opened exposing bright sunlight. For just an instant, a hint of smile crossed his otherwise deadpan face. This simple fact came as new information to his Nordic theory!
"...Well then what exactly is the Christian-meaning-of-Christmas?", he asked. It was at that point that I mentioned John 3:16, the well-worn verse that succinctly encompasses the meaning of Christmas.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
We went on to explain that we all have sinned, yet only Christ, God's Son offers us forgiveness from our sins if we will believe on Him and repent.
I continued, "It's like a courtroom scene when your facing a $5000. fine and just as the judge says you're guilty, someone steps up and pay the fine on your behalf and you walk away free; You are forgiven! ...that's what Jesus has done for us; He's given us forgiveness!"
Calvin suddenly looked surprised. "It's funny that you just mentioned the possibility of a $5000 fine, because that's what I was given; I was given a $5,280 fine a few years ago and I'm still struggling to pay it off!"
James and I continued explaining the gospel to him as we conversed for about twenty minutes. Again this was all new information to him and he seemed to be soaking up every word. There were frequent "off-the-wall" diversions while speaking to Calvin. He ventured into a number of crazy rabbit-trails, but we did our best to keep the conversation gently steering back to the gospel story. Noticing an authentic interest in the bible, James suggested that he should perhaps start discovering who Christ was by reading the gospel of John and he indicated he would like that. When James offered to provide him a bible, he said he'd get his own. Sensing it was time to wrap up the conversation, we asked if we could quietly pray for him in his search for spiritual things and Calvin couldn't have been more agreeable. My eyes watered slightly as I led in prayer asking for God's Spirit to draw Calvin toward himself as a seeker and reveal to Calvin who Christ was. Mission accomplished; Calvin was one step closer to understanding the meaning of Christmas!
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