Last week, I was an extra on the movie set again near Baton Rouge.  My role this day is to be a Confederate soldier.  Being an extra in any movie requires a lot of “hurry up and get ready, then wait “.  All the extras were told to wait in building #2 (basically a huge circus tent).  What’s the reason I’m being in the movies ( three so far) as an extra?  It’s on my bucket list.  I want to see the “behind the scenes” activities of the movie industry, and to meet people that I wouldn’t normally meet. Today I met the Atheist!

O, he was a nice guy, but from the get go he was wanting me to know how and what he thought.  We were sitting across from each other (waiting) so I struck up a conversation.  Just small talk.  Where do you live?  Why are you being an extra in the movie?  Wife? Kids? etc.etc.  Then when I said that I was a preacher he changed gears on me.  Like going from 1st gear in an old Ford pickup to grinding them gears all the way to overdrive in a Mac dump truck.  He was loaded for bear.  I was in the line of fire and he let me have it with both barrels.

His conversation went from normal to a very loud.  He changed from his Cajun accent(which I liked) to a California accent.  He must have picked this up from his days at University of California, Berkeley.  I know all this because he told me where he came from.  He also told me how he is known for his intelligence, his ability to understand anything from business models, to structures related to polymer something or another.  Also he let me know he is extremely proficient with communication.  I interrupted him long enough to say that I definitely believe him. (But I’m wishing that he wasn’t “communicating” so loud….. 4 other guys around me have been drawn into his communicating because he’s loud enough for them to hear). I also let him know that I have trouble communicating sometimes.  Why, I even get tongue tied when ordering at the Mcdonald’s drive thru.  I’m not sure he hears me,….. he is too busy “communicating”.

I’ll save you guys some time.  He basically was telling me his educational background, and his intellectual accomplishments to give him the authority to say this to me.  “Preacher I don’t believe in your God!”

He shares that as a child, he was active in the Catholic Church.  But he quit going and now…….. Well, let me give a shorter version of what he said.  “You people believe in a God.  A god who keeps up with all that you do wrong.  He then punishes you for being disobedient.  You aren’t supposed to do this or that.  You can’t hang around certain people because you think you are  better than them.  You think that if you are good enough that your god will reward you.  You people spend your whole life scared of what a god will do to you.  You people are not smart enough to question anything.  You follow a God because  other people tell you to do it.  Besides if you did ask a question about anything in life, your religious leaders or God himself would tell you to “shut up””.

TIME OUT  While this guy is talking I can sense that he is definitely a man with a very high intellect. But I also sense that he is now talking from his heart, not just his head.  And his heart is hurting.  I say a quick prayer, “Lord help me, I don’t know what to say.”   He finishes his remarks by saying, “That’s why I don’t believe in God.  Who needs it?  Why live your life afraid of all you do wrong and worried about trying to do right?”

And then the unthinkable happened………….    “I agree with you“, was my reply. ” You have expressed your thoughts very well.  In fact I will say it myself.  I don’t believe in a God like that”.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.   Jeremiah 24:7

“The God that I know is a living loving God who dwells inside of me.  I see God and His Glory in all things, especially the outdoors.  My God is a forgiving God.  There is no list of Bad things I do.  My Heavenly Father doesn’t punish me, but he disciplines me because He loves me. (I know, this takes time to comprehend).  I stay away from certain things of this world for my own good.  I’m learning to love everyone.  Religion may shun my questions about life, but not my Lord and Saviour.  Each day is another mystery full of questions that I’m blessed to live through. How and why Jesus came to this Earth for me and you is something I can’t explain to you in a way that your intellect would understand.  (I can’t even explain it to myself.)  The God you don’t believe in, you know of him and about him in your head.  My God that I do believe in, I know Him in my heart.”

I’m sharing from my heart.  He’s listening from his head.  I never know how well that works, but I continued.  “I can’t argue with a man of your intelligence.    There is a God.  You know of him and about him in your head.  My God that I do believe in, I know Him in my heart.  Where and how do the words faith and trust exist in your life?”  He stopped talking and you could tell he was in deep thought.  His reply, “I’ll have to ponder and think on what you’ve said.”

That’s where our conversation ended.  There is a part of me that wonders if our chance meeting was for him,….. or for me. There is a part of me that wonders if each and every day the chance meetings, the opportunities, the problems, the situations, the moments of every day life are for me and for you.  Just in case, I’ll live each day living and learning from my heart.