I recently sat beside a fascinating man on a plane trip in America. His background intrigued me and my genuine interest in his story led to question after question. After some time, he began asking me about why I was traveling and what I did.

As I shared with him about my ministry of helping Christians do a better job of sharing their relationship with God with others, he talked about how much he rejected about the Christianity he had seen. But he also referred to a Christian friend in his life. He talked about how God had really changed her life and that always kept him from discounting Christianity as fake.

Immediately I knew that God had given me a starting point to talk with this man about the difference between religion and real Christianity (a relationship with God). I was able to share about my encounter with God and how I had been religious before that but didn’t know God and how God had then completely changed my life.

The conversation lasted for the several hours of our trip. I knew of a good church in his area and encouraged him to check it out. He said, “I’m open to that now.”

God used that encounter to take him several steps closer to Christ.

Whenever someone makes a comment about how there is something different about you or another Christian, take it as God’s invitation to speak about him to that person!