Who Is Listening?

When I tell people I’m a Christian or when I tell them I’m a runner, I quite often get the same response. Sometimes it’s only in their eyes. Other times they are more vocal. “What do ya wanna do that for?”, “Well that’s a waste of time”, “You know it’s bad for your knees”. The last one being specific to running…I think.

Sometimes they are so vocal I feel obliged to respond, even though you feel like it’s probably pretty futile. Or at least we think it’s futile, but you never know. Maybe the initial negative response to hearing the word Christian or runner are actually hiding a deeper desire to know more. I think back to how I would have responded to “I’m a runner” back when I was a footballer. I have to confess I probably wouldn’t have said anything supportive, and my response to “I am a Christian” I am ashamed to say wouldn’t have been any better.

And yet at some point, as I matured I did listen, and then consider, and start to ask, and the seed that had been sown grew stronger.

I am reminded at this point of a story a Christian friend of mine told me. The story goes like this; she was renovating. She had painters painting the outside of the house including the roof, a pretty big job. While the painters were there for several days, she was doing her own thing which included listening to Christian podcasts and LifeFM. One of the painters, Frank, slowly started to show an interest, possibly after an initial comment like “Can’t you get normal radio then?”.

So, my friend tried to encourage his interest, by explaining a few basics and playing the radio a little louder so that he could hear it clearly as he painted the walls. She eventually invited him to church but to no avail. The house was painted, the painters moved on and Frank’s heart remained hard. End of story she thought, but no.

Next Sunday at church there was a newcomer. Not Frank who had painted the walls, that she had tried to spread the Word to….. but the guy who was painting the roof…. listening……considering.

So tell people you are a Christian, tell them you are a runner, don’t be put off if their initial response is less than positive. You never know who is listening.