Chocolate vs. Vanilla Ice Cream

So Megan and I had the opportunity recently to fly to Houston. We went as part of my responsibilities on the Vineyard's Church Planting Task Force. I love to fly. Megan hates it. Megan's an introvert. So cramped airplanes are not her thing. But partly to ease her nerves, and partly because she's wanting to be more free in sharing about the life she's found in Jesus, Megan totally struck up a conversation with the woman who sat down next to her in the aisle seat. The woman was dressed conservatively, in business-type attire, carrying an umbrella and a straw hat - the kind you'd see in the movies that people would wear when harvesting in the rice patty. So Megan strikes up a conversation with this woman, telling her all about where we're going and why, etc. The other woman is very interested.

Meanwhile, I'm wrapping up the last pages of Anne Rice's second installment in her historical fiction of Christ's life: The Road to Cana. As I finished the last page, I began to cry. Here I am at cruising altitude, having a moment with Jesus. I'm looking out the window in awe of how awesome Jesus is and how he changes our lives. Of how he heals people and radically alters our destinies. Of how he rewrites stories. I mean, he's Jesus, and this is worship.

And from somewhere deep inside my moment with Jesus, I hear the woman next to Megan say, "You know, I, too, am part of a religious group. Perhaps you've heard of it, its called _____." It was, of course, a group that probably all of us have heard of, but out of respect, I'll leave it to your imagination. As soon as I heard that, I knew my moment was beginning to end. And as I sensed Megan looking for help with the many questions the woman was now starting to help, I said goodbye to my moment and slowly worked my way into the conversation. And wouldn't you know it? After about five (5) minutes, Megan nonchalantly pulls out a book and her journal and she proceeds to totally check out of the conversation, leaving the rest to me!

To be honest, I didn't really feel like this conversation. I wanted to be back looking out the window with Jesus. But because of my love for Jesus, I stayed talking to my new friend. And if you know me at all, you know how much I love to answer questions. And you know how hard it is for me to ignore comments like, "Well, we all know that one of the big things Martin Luther discovered, coming out of the Dark Ages, was that the Trinity was wrong, and that's one of the big reasons he nailed those Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg." At that point I actually gave her my business card, wrote my email on it and asked her to find documented evidence of that and email it to me.

I was enjoying myself after all, even if it wasn't exactly what I felt like doing. But there was a problem. You see, I never came equipped with an "inside voice." If you get me excited on a plane for three hours, this can be a problem ... you get the picture.

So it was right about this time that the guy across the aisle from my new friend turns to the guy he's been talking to and says, "Oh no! They're talking about religion. That's like saying, "I like chocolate ice cream. And you like vanilla ice cream. But you should like chocolate!! Its all a matter of preference. Let's stick to science and things we can prove and know are true." Then they laughed and carried on.

When I heard this, two things went through my mind. First, I thought, "Is my faith really the same as an ice cream preference? Is that what you think? Really? Really? I mean, come on, for many people, and not just fundamentalist Christians, their faith is the governing understanding of their life, guiding major decisions and their sense of identity and the world. Is that really the same as a dessert preference?" Second, I found myself getting very sad that I had offended him, and even more, that I had made Jesus seem small in his eyes. I excused myself from my conversation with the woman and visited the restroom. I apologized to Jesus and then committed to trying to connect with this guy and even maybe apologize to him for having an "insider" conversation in a way that diminished Jesus.

I did come back to my seat and finish the conversation with Megan's seat neighbor, sometime while zigzagging over Texas. We even got to pray with her. Turns out her mother was very ill, which is why she was flying to Houston, and she let us pray for her mother to be healed by Jesus.

I also got a chance to connect with the Ice Cream guy. While I was wrapping up the one conversation, I heard him talking about how he liked to play Dungeons & Dragons. Having played myself, once upon a time, I asked if it was true that the founder of D&D had died, as I had heard. It was true, he replied, maybe a little surprised. We then talked about our favorite fantasy novels until we landed. I never did apologize, but I do think he had a glimpse that maybe not all Christians are as weird as he thought.

And it turns out he wasn't the only one listening. The guy directly behind Megan had been partly sleeping for much of the plane ride, eyes closed, yet open just a slit. He was clearly listening in. I thought I caught a hint of it at a few points. We landed and docked and that's when everyone does that "hurry up and wait and stand up even though there's no where to go" thing. Well, when we did that, he immediately, but casually, started to ask me about a number of Christian authors and what I thought, etc. Turns out he led a men's group in his local church and was in the process of thinking through lots of new ideas and was curious to know more about the Vineyard.

All in all it was an active plane ride! I still haven't heard anything about the Ninety-Five Theses, but I'm hopeful that Jesus touched this nice young woman's mother.