Mariano on the Bus

We met Mariano from Buenos Aires, Argentina on the bus. My friend Miriam and I were coming home from Asunción and talking to each other in English, when the guy in front of us turns around and asks us where we're from. It was a well-lit bus, there were 2 of us, and he was just a really friendly guy, so stop being worried about me. He soon came to find out that the 2 beautiful girls that he wanted to talk to were also missionaries and wanted to challenge him about his relationship with his Creator.

I have conflicting emotions about how easy I find it to talk to complete strangers, in Spanish, about their relationship with Jesus. I'm much more intimidated to talk to strangers about Jesus in English. It's even more intimidating to talk to non-Christian friends. Do complete strangers talk to my friends about the hope that comes in a relationship with Christ? I hope so!!

When I asked Mariano about his own relationship with God, and he said that he'd think about God someday. I told him that someday should be TODAY and that John, in the Bible, would be a good place to start. Yesterday, I was reading about God's perfect timing in the book of Esther. Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING, worked out in God's perfect timing in chapter 6. God's in control of the little details. In Esther's time, Haman always seemed to be right where God wanted him. I hope Mariano can look back to his conversation with the girls on the bus and open his Bible tonight, since "now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).

(Photo from Buenos Aires last year)