Atheist declares: "God sends me people like you"

I've been talking to a guy I met at the gym a few weeks ago. The first thing he said to me was a lecture that it wasn't good to shower right before going into the sauna. I just smiled and we kept talking.

We talked about saunas and Germany (I'm German). Then he told me about how stupid Americans are -- especially those 50% (his statistic) who believe in Noah's Ark and a young world.

"God is a mad black woman who is coming back to destroy everything," he said.

"That's interesting that you'd say that," I said. "I'm an interdenominational missionary."

"Really!"

I could tell I had sparked his interest and that he wanted to ask me questions. But by that time, it was just too hot to keep talking. We were in a sauna, after all.

Two weeks later I saw him at the sauna again. We continued our conversation right where we had left off.

"I'm a Jewish, Buddhist, atheist," he said. "I like to get Evangelicals to yell at me and lose their temper. I tell them that if God came down right now and told me to accept the blood of his son or go to hell I would spit in his eye and say f-you."

It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. My missionary work has taken me to some rough places. And I was a little like him before I met Jesus. So he and I talked about the atonement. We talked about justice.

"Remember your comment about the ark earlier?" I asked. "Why are you so passionate about it? What would you do if I believed in the ark?"

"I don't want to offend you," he said, looking uncomfortable.

"Hey, I don't mind if you think I'm stupid." I told him about the healings and supernatural works of God I've seen in my life. "These things made it easy for me to believe what I read in the Bible."

"You're a better man than me," he said after a while, when I didn't lose my temper or get upset at him for his ideas or language.

This Jewish-Buddhist-Atheist and I kept talking. We talked about love and God, that love is a choice. That love is choosing the highest good for God, others and yourself.

He told me about his life and some of the struggles he's going through. He's taking a break from his job right now and is in therapy because of severe depression.

"I've gotta go," he said, sweat pouring down his face. (Remember, this is all happening in the sauna.) "But I really enjoyed our conversation. It is really nice to meet you."

Right before he walked out, he turned to me and said, "God sends me people like you."

Not bad coming from a man who 10 minutes earlier told me that he was an atheist.