Being Ready

Hubby is a pilot and his primary job as such right now is teaching new pilots how to fly. The other day he was at the airport waiting for a broken starter on the plane to be replaced, and talking with a couple students and another instructor. Somehow the issue of taxes came up. One of the guys said, “Give unto Caesar what it Caesar’s. Does anyone know what book that quote came from?”

“Isn’t that from The Gladiator?” replied another fellow.

“It’s from Matthew,” piped up hubby.

“Wow, we have someone who knows their Bible. Very good,” replied the first.

The conversation quickly moved on from there, but this little exchange was a good reminder to hubby and to me when he shared it with me that as 1 Peter 3:15 says, we are to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. . .” We have been praying for one of the guys involved in this conversation as hubby has had chances in the past to speak to him of spiritual things. We have been praying for further chances. Although both students are almost finished with their training, we are also adding them to our prayer list as well that God may give hubby an opportunity to share more with them. Obviously one has at least some Bible knowledge already. We have found in the past that oftentimes through little snippets of conversation like this, people have known that we are Christians, then when something happens and they are seeking answers, they sometimes have come to us and said, “I remember that you know about the Bible. What do you think about . . .” and we have been able to share with them the good news from the Bible that while everyone is a sinner, God loved us enough to send Jesus to take the penalty for our sins. By trusting totally in Him and His perfect righteousness and sacrifice instead of in ourselves and our own always-imperfect attempts at righteousness, we can know that we are saved. We pray for just such an opportunity with these guys.