For those that do not know, and for reasons I will not get into here, I have taken a position as a night stocker (not stalker) at Walmart in Monroe. I am not ashamed of it, but see it as an opportunity for God to provide for my needs. I have never been afraid to work and given the opportunity, I will make things happen. But enough about my insignificant part-time job, there is something greater going on here.
On my first night on the job, I was introduced as someone who had previous electronics experience at Circuit City. I made a passing comment about being a Pastor, and then went out to the floor to learn the complexities of putting products on a shelf.
When the time came and my bones needed a break, this old man sat down for a few minutes. After resting my battered body from the terrors of night stocking, I headed back out to the floor. On my way out, I was stopped by a gentleman who propositioned me with a simple question, “Do you have time for a question?” Seeing as how I love questions, I granted his request. What would come out of his mouth would throw me for a loop. Had I had enough forethought, I would have been able to prepare…but because my mind had been maxed out from all of the problem solving from the previous four hours, it hit me like a haymaker.
“How do you make prayer work?” Junior asked.
I responded, “How do you mean?”
We talked for a few more minutes about things while I sought to understand exactly where he was spiritually. Did he have a framework to understand God? Jesus? Salvation? Faith? It became apparent to me that Junior, who was a maintenence worker on third shift, had little biblical worldview.
So, how do you answer a man who has little understand of Christ, but professes to have a relationship with God? How do you answer him without degenerating into a bunch of Christianese and leave him with nothing more that religious platitudes? After a couple minutes, I gave him a little of my story and why prayer works for me. I encouraged him to read John and resolved to talk to him again.
As I walked to the floor, I realized that it had been a really long time since I had a conversation with someone as deeply in need of Christ as Junior. Someone who may be open to the things of God but has no bearing on where to turn. All these conversations I previously had were with people who had some level of cognisance of the things of God. They were aware of Jesus. They had progressed somewhere along the Engel scale. But not here.
It’s official, I am a terrible Christian. But those who know me already knew that. I am excited to continue talking with Junior. But more importantly, I am excited to pray for the things God may do in Junior’s life between the hours of 10 PM and 7 AM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights out in Monroe, GA.
