Initiating.

"You just sat down at 11:11am on 1/11/11."

I looked over at the guy next to me, who showed me the clock on his phone. "That's so crazy!" He exclaimed, shaking his head. I thought to myself, who IS this guy?

I happen to love significant numerical moments, like 1:23pm on 4/5/06. That was a great moment. When someone recognizes one of these moments, I feel an instant bond with them.

I had just boarded the plane, flying back to Minneapolis from Dallas last week. Conversation continued to flow between this guy, who I'll call Andy, because he reminded me of Andy Bernard from The Office.

I've always wanted to share the Gospel with someone on an airplane. Bill Bright did it, after all. And I've heard a lot of big-name speakers tell stories about doing it. You've got this person in very close proximity to you, who can't leave, and it's kind of awkward if you don't talk about anything at all.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to share my faith with Andy. Mainly because I wasn't able to come up with a single simple, nonchalant segue into my faith, and never felt a prompting to go there.

There are moments in some conversations from which you can easily transition into a spiritual topic. Sometimes, there aren't those moments. What do you do then? Do you just bring it up anyway?

I was definitely thinking about bringing it up. He shared with me that he'd just gone through a divorce and had flown back to Dallas for a custody hearing with his ex-wife. I felt for him in his tough situation, and probably could/should have offered some comforting or hopeful or encouraging words. I couldn't think of anything in the moment.

I'm not very good at initiating conversations, let alone spiritual ones. Maybe whipping out the KGP in this conversation wouldn't have been appropriate. But I think taking the initiative to share the hope I have in Christ with someone, even when there's no clear segue, is totally fine.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." -Colossians 4:5-6