Bonnie, a older lady, was filling in for the regular crossing guard one morning.  While Bonnie was standing on the corner waiting for children, she and I talked. I asked Bonnie what she thought happens to someone when they die.  Jokingly, she responded, "Are you serious?"  I answered, "Yes."  She said, "Well, I guess it depends." "On what?" I asked.  "Whether you've been a good person or not," she replied. I asked Bonnie, "What happens to good people?"  She answered, "I guess they go to Heaven.  Or, at least I hope so."  I then asked Bonnie, "Have you been a good person?"  She answered, "Yeah, I believe so." We then continued to talk...

I explained to her that when you examine the heart of the Mosaic law, you realize that it is impossible to follow.  God set some pretty lofty goals knowing fully that no one could obey them completely. Bonnie asked, "But sometimes things change don't they?" I answered, "Yeah, that's what the Sadducees thought as well.  They tried to take the law and bend it in order to fit their own agendas. We do the exact same today."  I continued to share with her how it is interesting that in Isaiah 58 and Amos 6 we read messages by the two prophets to Israel concerning their disrepect for God's Law.  Isaiah 58 deals primarily with fasting and how Israel engaged in this religious ritual to display how 'humble' and religious they were. Amos rebukes Israel for laying on their beds of Ivory eating fruit and feeling safe and secure while the people around them are hurtinig.  In Isaiah, the Lord says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips; their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up of rules taught by men." I shared with Bonnie that these people, just like the Jewish people today, entirely missed the point of God's law.

It was lightly raining on and off while we were talking.  Right about this moment I looked up and saw a rainbow.  I pointed to it and asked Bonnie if she remembered the story of Noah.  I continued to share with her that God made a promise to Noah that he would never flood the earth again.  With the law, God also made a covenant with Moses to establish a relationship with his people.  He even gave us the instructions on how to have that relationship.  We, however, fouled it up by being prideful and disobedient.  Because we messed up, God had to send Jesus Christ in order for us to receive forgiveness. Christ also came to fulfill that Law and show us how to actually live it out.

I continued to reason with her, "Now I know that you might not believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and I don't have the time (her husband was coming to pick her up in about 10 mins) nor a Bible to prove it to you.  And you know, even if I did have a Bible, its just words.  That's what the Bible is to people who don't believe - just words on a page. But let me point out a few things to you. First, let's look at the alternatives...Do you know of anyone who has lived as great of a life as Jesus?  Do you know of anyone who loved people the way that he did? Do you know of anyone who healed people, casted out demons, and performed miracles like he did?  So, are you just going to continue to hang out waiting for "the Messiah" and hope that he's still going to come? Do you have any better options? And that's not really faith; that's just plain common sense. That's just good reasoning. I mean, he fits the description of the Messiah. Are you absolutely sure that he's not? Second, you mentioned that you believe parts of the Bible, but not the whole thing.  Let's think about this for a second.  Does that really make sense?  You know, my father used to bring home big computer boxes.  They were so big that when I was a child, I could cut doors and windows in the boxes.  If you are going to stand in a box, then you need to put both feet in and stand fully in it.  If one foot is in and the other one is out, then you might tear the box or trip and fall over.  We can't put one foot in faith in Christ and not the other.  We'll continue to get tripped up.  Better yet, let's take a chair for example.  When you sit down in a chair, do you sit with one butt cheek off and one cheek on?  No, of course you don't - its uncomfortable and that's not how the chair was designed.  You sit and rest fully in the chair.  No one sits partly in the chair while still holding themselves up.  They would eventually get tired.  Same with Christ, until we rest fully in Him, we're also going to continue to get tired. Faith in Christ is just like faith in a chair.  You have faith in Christ knowing through him you are forgiven of you sins; and, you have faith in a chair knowing that it is strong enough to hold you up. And until you put your faith to action in either one, Christ or the chair, you are not utilizing them for why they were created and given to us."

Bonnie appreciated both examples.  About this time her husband pulls up. As she is getting her things together, Bonnie said, "You know, that makes a lot of sense. I never really thought about it that way."  Bonnie said that she had been thinking about going to church.  I told her that my church has a Jewish/Christian fellowship that focuses on building relationships between Jews and Christians and gives Jews greater insight to what Christians believe and why they believe it.  She asked where it was, I pointed to the church which was just 3 buildings away. She said that she might come try it out sometime.

Throughout our conversation, which ended up being about 30-45 mins, Bonnie continually said, "You know, it is not an accident that I'm here at the corner this morning and that you came up and started asking me these questions." I agreed with her each time and told her that perhaps God was trying to get her attention. She said that I was probably right.

------

You also saw in this testimony some apologetics. Notice that I didn't have to give a huge thesis and you do not always have to memorize Scripture.  But, please realize that apologetics does not bring about conviction, it only breaks down barriers between the mind and the Gospel. No matter how much reasoning you give, you cannot prove faith. Proof of faith is the outcome of faith. In other words, faith proves itself; faith testifies concerning faith. For example, you can say that you have faith in a chair.  But you only, truly, have faith in the chair once you sit down.  While you are standing (without works), your faith is dead (James 2:14-17). Your faith only becomes alive - becomes real faith - when you act on that faith. Same as with Christ. You can say that you believe, but until you live your life manifesting your belief, your faith is dead. Your faith can be displayed through your salvation and the changes in your life as well as you simply living out your obedience to what God may be asking you to do. (James 2:18)