This of course happened to me not once but twice in the same week over lunch with my colleagues. I am pretty grateful that they are not hostile towards the general idea of religion, some of my friends may not be so fortunate. As we throw our ideas back and forth, it became very clear to me that this is the kind of conversation that I am lacking in participation simply because of the absence of such rock-the-boat events. As I ponder quietly upon the walk back from lunch, do we as Christians not talk about these things anymore? The things that we so ignorantly sweep under the carpet or avoid altogether? Maybe even take it for granted. It is my current gripe that we as Christians do not wrestle with these things anymore. Are we really compartmentalising our "spirituality" to within the four walls of church?
I will admit that I'm not a person who would go about instigating conversations like the ones I had with my colleagues, but that doesn't mean I don't like talking about it. Better that than not talking or thinking about it at all. Perhaps it is time to be a little more proactive.
Two things I learned from my highly thought provoking over-the-table talks with the colleagues. One, there is a greater need/urge to equip myself to speak confidently on matters like these. You cannot be lukewarm and expect your words to carry weight. Two, there is at least one person whose thought processes and reasoning skills are not far off from the truth. Take comfort in that and press on.
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I'm still not used to living here. Feels a little too temporary, occasionally a little odd. Quieter than when I first came to Australia for studies.
Perhaps I've gotten used to my sister's sewing machine running in the middle of the night. Dammit.
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It's amazing what kind of opportunities come knocking at your door due to a very random question.
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It's about high time for me to make kaya.
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5 Centimetres Per Second is another great Makoto Shinkai film but probably the wrong film to watch today. Of all days.
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5 Centimetres Per Second is another great Makoto Shinkai film but probably the wrong film to watch today. Of all days.
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it is great that you had this opportunity to share some snippets or glimpses of the gospel and/or the christian worldview with your colleagues, even if you feel that you were not well-prepared for the conversation.
if they made statements and/or asked questions that sparked interest and caused you to go read up on certain things, you can always go to them for some follow-up chats... you know, like, "hey, do you remember the other day you said blablabla? well i found that really fascinating and i went to find out more about it... what do you think of blebleble?" (exchange the blas and bles for some profound ideas, lol)
what are you doing now to equip yourself for future oppotunities? any way i can help? these are the kinds of conversations that i enjoy the most... i can even enjoy it when the other guy is hostile and insulting me like crazy, although that situation is significantly harder to enjoy... =)
I think the biggest challenge for me is to remember things that I have read in the past or even past conversations that might be particularly helpful. My memory dedicated to this area is significantly less than the random junk I normally fill it with (ie. hedgehogs)
I love these kind of conversations but I usually end up as the observer. Not really great at contributing.
haha well, memory is reinforced by repetition... if we read and think about such things more frequently, the info will be more readily retrieved. =)
hey juwen,
i just watched this video... it's long but (to me) it was good and thought-provoking. thought you might find it interesting too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfQk4NfW7g0