Q&A

So, in connection to Friends, I have been answering more strange personal question. Some of which I now repurpose for my blog.

Give a specific example of a time you worked with people who are different than you. What did you learn from that experience?

Over the recent Christmas break, in order to maintain a certain level of fluidity regarding my financial resources, I was engaged through a temp agency to work a couple of weeks in a tire warehouse. There were two other temps with whom I worked. They were both men of accumulated years, each endowed with peculiarities as regards speech: the one had a thick accent and would employ pronouns (and other such ambiguities) outside of sufficient context, and the other, though I understood his literal words, possessed an underlying logic that I didn’t understand. For both of these men, I had a soft affection, generally wishing them well.

And with both men, there came a time to share the gospel. With the latter of the two, this moment came the hour we met. He asked me about myself, and once he understood I was studying theology, we had a long talk before work started. Now, in all honesty, though I didn’t give him any standardized test, I strongly suspect this man of having a low IQ, and whereas there is nothing wrong with that, I am one who loves to work in argument and ideas: this was someone for whom going over the basic logical arguments for Christianity was a moot point. The logic of his worldview depended on experience and not reason.

The other man was a loveable sort. I remember him making many jokes, which I only understood as jokes by sudden uproarious punctuations of laughter. I was at a loss for nearly half of anything he said. Here was another barrier to communication. This barrier worked both ways though, and I was surprised to learn that he understood my studying theology to mean I was some sort of electrician. As we talked and worked together, a bond of friendship did develop. In clarifying what theology was, I did try to open the door into a discussion of faith, but my friend declined, having “tried” religion.

After working with these two, it became all the more clear to me the power of a shared language, and the want of the same within our culture.

Breifly [sic] share your faith journey, including something the Lord is currently teaching you, and what you do to regularly cultivate your relationship with Christ.

Raised Christian, I at an early age desired forgiveness of my sins. I remember the place well, or at least the old couch, where I knelt down and tried to list out every sin I could remember so God could forgive each one. I fell asleep. Awaking in a freight, I tried again. And again. There were too many sins, and I could never hope to list them all. Then a soft comfort came over me, an assurance of deep love. That is where I mark my conversion into Christianity, the first step I ever took on my own to seek God. From that childish understanding I have been moving towards a more complete knowledge.

Currently, I have found God directing me towards hearing and praying. As such, I have been seeking out more times of prayer, and exploring different methods of praying.