Andrew* in the plane: I rushed to the airport after a very full weekend of preaching and teaching at a very large church at Reedy Creek on the Gold Coast. Mercifully my seat was the window seat with no one to occupy the middle seat. Meanwhile the man who had occupied the aisle seat studied his computer.

“Do you live in Sydney?” I asked.

“No,” he said, “ I am just going there for business.”

“Pity to have to travel on a holiday [Australia Day],” I said. He nodded glumly and went back to work. Soon the engines’ thrust reminded me that we were on an aircraft and as we hurtled down the runway and lifted into the sky, I asked the Lord, “If you want me to speak to this man, help me Lord.”

It wasn’t long before the meal came round and it was down tools as we snacked on biscuits and coffee. “Tell me,” I said, “have you ever wondered what is the point of life?” He looked at me vacantly. “There is no meaning to life,” he said.

“Oooh!” I said, “what happens when someone dies?”

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“That’s easy,” he replied, “they go into the ground and it’s dark forever from then on …”

“I see …” I said slowly, “How can you know for sure that that’s the truth?”

“Who can know?” he said wearily. “Well,” I said, “do you think it’s possible that there is a heaven and a hell? That God exists and that somehow we are supposed to have a relationship with him?”

He said, “I was brought up as an atheist. I come from a communist background and I don’t have any idea about what you are talking about. My wife is religious but I never seem to be able to get it. I just don’t get it at all.”

“I understand,” was my concerned reply. “Look, let me show you something.” And with that I showed Andrew The Way of Life presentation on my iPhone beginning with the question: “Do you believe that a person could know for sure that he is going to go to heaven when he dies?”

Andrew peered at the iPhone and sat up as he leaned over to look at the picture of the frowning sky with that question in white text above the cloud. “How could anyone know that for sure?” he said with a searching tone.

And with that we progressed through each picture and I explained that we can’t make ourselves good enough for God and that all have sinned including both he and I. I showed that the reason people don’t know God or feel his presence is because sin cuts us off from him.

We progressed through the frames and Andrew grew more and more intent on what was being discussed pausing to ask questions and discovering the wonderful truth of the good news. When we came to the part where I showed the picture where it said at the base: “Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring You to God …” [1 Peter 3:18] Andrew stopped me and said: “How do I get into this?” I said, “You can pray and ask God to reveal himself to you with this prayer …” And then I showed Andrew the prayer of salvation and added, “You know, Andrew, the Bible records God as saying that ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’?” [Rom 10:13]

I then showed him a prayer in The Way of Life and with that, Andrew, a man in his forties bowed his head with me and invited Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour.

Fast forward a couple of months later and I was back in Brisbane and I met Andrew in a shopping centre one morning. I had called him and had sent him a copy of Beginning with Christ. Andrew had learned all five assurance scriptures off by heart. Later on a Navigator friend of mine followed Andrew up and gave a good report.

Footnote: I rang Andrew not so long ago and I asked him how he was feeling. “The difference in my life since we prayed on the plane is nothing short of huge,” he said.

Really that says it all.

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