By Doug Creamer
An Interesting Conversation
My nephew got married over the weekend in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect if we had ordered it. The setting was beautiful. The sun peeked through the leaves to catch glimpses of the bride and groom. I saw a swarm of honeybees and a flock of birds fly over. All of nature was straining to get a glimpse of the bride and groom.
The ceremony honored both their faith and their devotion to each other. They composed their own vows in which they shared the depth of their love and commitment to each other. Then they exchanged the traditional vows before sharing the anxiously awaited kiss. It was a wonderful afternoon watching my sister’s youngest son begin his life’s journey together with his new bride. Almost my entire family was present and it was great to see my siblings and their families all together.
The reception that followed was filled with all the traditional activities: the first dance, cutting the cake, and speeches. The food was very good and the place was packed with warmth and good cheer. Everyone had a great time in what was a well-choreographed wedding ceremony. I am so happy for the bride and groom and their respective families.
While we were waiting to eat, I was sitting at a table with my brother-in-law, another nephew, who was visiting from Puerto Rico, and a great-niece. My brother-in-law was asking questions for each of us to answer. My great-niece was enjoying the interaction. At one point he asked her, “If you could have dinner with two people, living or dead, who would they be and why?” My niece responded, “Monet.” The three of us were blown away with her response since she is a young child. Then she added Vincent van Gogh and she had us all reeling. How could such a young child pick such great people? Obviously, she is interested in art. We all thought she would pick some movie or TV star or a young heart throb.
When asked the same question, my brother-in-law, who is English, chose Winston Churchill and one of the Queens from British history. We discussed several influential people in British history that would be fascinating to meet. I told the group that I would like to meet Paul who wrote most of the New Testament. As a writer, I would like to learn what I could from the expert. Everyone liked that answer. When asked who my second choice would be, I mentioned a few movie stars. This earned me some well-intentioned teasing from the guys. We all got a good laugh from the suggested stars. To be honest, I would really like to meet several contemporary Christian writers such as Davis Bunn, Frank Peretti, or Max Lucado. I once met Og Mandino, who had a huge impact on my life. But that is a story for another day.
The question fell to my nephew. Without hesitation he said he would like to meet Jesus. He said he had lots of questions that he would like to discuss with Jesus. We all liked his choice. We discussed a few of his questions and we enjoyed the interaction. A little later, my brother-in-law left the table and I pursued his choice a little deeper. I told my nephew that I would enjoy hearing his questions and discussing them with him. I told him that my father often liked to discuss such things and it would remind me of him in a pleasant way. We decided that we would continue our discussion through email.
I am looking forward to this exchange with my nephew as we discuss the things he would like to learn from Jesus. I hope that I will be able to answer some questions which I think will help deepen my own faith as I grapple with the things that are on his mind. Talking about Jesus is one of my favorite topics. I imagine my dad would have loved to be a part of this exchange, adding plenty of his own questions.
I want to encourage you to explore opportunities that present themselves to you to discuss and share your faith with others. Many people you know have questions that you could answer and help them to understand. My nephew and I have agreed that this is not to be a debate but rather an opportunity to learn and grow in our understanding. I hope we grow closer through this exchange. Sharing our faith and why we believe in a non-judgmental way can be a real blessing. Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com
