Defending Hope, Learning Lessons

"... (A)lways being prepared to make a defense to anyone 
who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you..." 
-1 Peter 3:15

Up until tonight, I'd never experienced the full force of this verse. If anything, when I've had this verse in mind, it would make me wonder just how a conversation like this might go:

"Hey you! Defend yourself! Give me a reason for the hope you have within you or else!"

Maybe it wouldn't go quite like that--though in the context of 1 Peter it might. Still, I've just had a hard time getting a sense of what it would be like.

But tonight, God in his infinite wisdom and grace allowed me to get a taste for what this verse is all about.

There's a regular at my restaurant who stops in every night after work just to grab a Bass, a Dewar's neat and maybe an appetizer. He's always a friendly guy, and a bit of an outdoorsman, so we usually have something to talk about when we see each other.

Tonight was going just like any other night, a bit slow for a Friday night, in fact, when "John" struck up a conversation with me. Normally, he'll stop me to show me a YouTube video or tell me about a recent bike ride. But I could tell right away that he had something else in mind tonight.

"Jay, I've been watching you over the past year, and I've got to say I never see you down," he said. "You just always seem to be happy and unaffected by what's going on around you, like water off a duck's back. I've just got to ask you why."

Now, anyone who's known me for more than two seconds can tell you that I'm about a thousand miles away from being someone who let's things roll off him like water off a duck's back. I mean, my joke with Janelle is that the phrase "pet peeve" really gets under my skin and bothers me.

But then, here's this guy who's become a friend over the past year, who's seen me at work and even with my family--both church and nuclear--and he's really asking the question that 1 Peter 3:15 presupposes people are asking the Christ-followers around them.

What would my response be? Would I be prepared to give a reason for the hope this friend sees in me day in and day out?

I said, "John, that is really great to hear. I've got to say first that I'm a long ways away from really being the person you're describing. But I'll tell you why I'm happy all the time: I'm accepted by God, and that's where I find all my significance."

As we continued to talk, John told me a bit about his struggles with life. He's an established professional who's lived a good, respectable life, but he really feels like there's something missing and a change is needed.

While we chatted, I prayed that God would give me wisdom, clarity and courage in the conversation. I was also convinced that I did not want to leave the conversation with any lack of specificity. 

So, when the time was right, I said, "I just want to be clear about something. I don't think that God accepts me because I'm a good person--I'm not a good person, and nobody is. What I believe is that Jesus died in my place and was raised from the dead, and I live the life of his resurrection."

Just then, the bartender brought John his check and I got a new table. I walked away from that conversation thanking God for the work that he's doing in my life through waiting tables.

Four specific areas where God is teaching me come to mind:

1. Never to delay a conversation. If it's there, take a shot and get as specific as you possibly can. An acquaintance may or may not meet you for coffee (let's be real, it ain't gonna happen), but if they ask you about the hope you have within you, draw your six-gun and fire away right then and there. 

2. Sometimes takes a lot of time and a lot of head-down-working to build a platform for the gospel. I've been at my restaurant for a year, and God has given me most of the best gospel-oriented conversations within the past two months. Those first 10 months weren't wasted at all though. God is using them now, and I trust he used them then as well.

3. Be specific and to think on your feet. Nobody needs merely to know that there is a God, or even a God who loves them; everybody needs to know that the Son of God took on flesh, dwelt among us, died the death that sinners deserve and was raised to life by the power of God so that those who trust in this Person--Jesus Christ--would be reconciled to their Creator. 

4. To be content and productive wherever God places me. To bloom where I'm planted. I've spent so much time oscillating between worry and contentment about working in a restaurant this year that it's actually pretty embarrassing. God may move me to a different work situation soon or not soon, but either way, he has me here for a reason, and I need to trust him in that. It's like the Caedmon's Call song says, "You know the plans that you have for me/and you can't plan the ends and not plan the means."

God wants his ambassadors to work heartily and speak clearly. I'm learning that one happy hour at a time.