Lesson in Spiritual Conversations from the Gym

Benching my body weight at the 24 Hour Fitness gym has been a recent achievement, but not without help.  Who knew that my personal fitness goals would coincide with God’s plan to move His Kingdom into a stranger’s life?

A few weeks ago, I decided to increase my lifting goals, but I generally never do so without a spotting buddy.  As I was there, I met a guy named Austin, who was a few years older than I, resting from his set, so I asked if he’d spot me as I lifted.  I was conscience to the Holy Spirit, and it was my prayer that I would be open to any opportunity to honor God as a witness.  After I finished, we talked about where we were from, and I found out that Austin works for his dad’s welding company in Houston and frequents this gym.  Of course, he then asks me the best witnessing opportunity question: “And what do you do?”

Usually, I’d follow a well-rehearsed script sharing precisely what I do on college campuses, but I believe God had a different plan.  Instead, I tell him that I enjoy speaking to college students about life, relationships, and God. He then asks, “You get paid to do that?” We continue talking about my work with Campus Crusade for Christ and Austin starts reflecting with me that he rarely ever thought about spiritual things.  As we continue working out; I show him a new work-out he’s never tried, and we part after I offer to hear his thoughts on life, relationships, and God in future conversations.  Austin thanks me; since then, I’ve run into him more often at the gym.

Well, this story doesn’t end with a prayer to receive Christ—it’s still on-going, actually—but it’s worth telling. I’m currently reading a book I’d recommend to every believer: God Space: Where Spiritual Conversations Happen Naturally, by Doug Pollock.  Pollock propounds that “spiritual conversations should be our ultimate motive, not our ulterior motive.”  In my experience of talking with students, I often feel a pressure to “direct” or “steer” a conversation towards spiritual matters.  The pressure is usually from me wanting to have an awesome praise story to share, or count higher numbers of people hearing the gospel.  Yielding to this pressure keeps God from directing the conversation himself, naturally, providentially.  Not to mention, I might steer it into situations I can’t handle!

I learned to trust that 1) God loves Austin more than I could, 2) God knows how to connect with Austin better than I could, and 3) the Holy Spirit wants to lead me into a conversation with Austin that both connects with him and communicates God’s love to him.  As a result, this experience has helped me yield control of conversations, and has taught me how to let God’s love flow from me—for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God (I John 4:7, ESV).

Please pray for my future conversations with Austin.  We greet each other every time we see one another at the gym.  I want to find out if he has friends who follow Christ and hear of his opinion of them.  As I’m growing and experiencing God, it seems He is interested in my multiple areas of growth (Luke 2:52).