The rain was drumming on the car roof. We sat there for a minute knowing it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon so we finally made a dash for the house. Max and Klaudia had invited us once again to their combined birthday garden party. There we stood as Klaudia opened the door - fashionably late and sufficiently soaked. Fortunately they have a large house. Their great room buzzed with chatter as everyone made the most of an indoor garden party. In true German fashion we made the rounds and greeted each one with handshakes or hugs depending on how well we knew them. We proceeded to enjoy the catered buffet and conversation among clusters of quests. Both Klaudia and Max are lawyers and many of their friends as well. Over the years we have gotten to know some of them. But not Johannes.
Johannes is a rather famous criminal defense lawyer in Cologne and always seemed to come across as rather hardened and brash. To be honest, I had always been a bit reticent in trying to talk to him. As the rain slowly let up and the sun came out the party moved outside as well. At one point I was sitting at a table with several others when all of a sudden Johannes plopped down in the seat next to me lighting up his Cuban cigar. He didn’t say anything. We were sort of listening to the small talk of a few women at the table. Finally I gathered my courage and spoke to him.
“So, you’re a lawyer.”
He nodded his head.
“What type of law?”
“Criminal defense.”
“Aha…. I’ll bet you have some good stories to tell.”
And then, out of the blue and before he had heard a word about my faith he said, “You know, if everyone would just follow the ten commandments, the world would be a much better place.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yes, and I don’t see things changing or getting better any time soon. There will always be plenty of work for people like me.”
He went on to tell me a few stories about cases he has had had, dealing with pedophilia and tax fraud and then finally asked me what I do for a living. I shared with him that I am a pastor and help various free churches to start new churches. Being a typical nominal catholic, he had never heard of anything like that before. Through the haze of his cigar smoke I explained to him what I do and why I do it. He rejoined by telling me he really didn’t know if he believed in God or not. “That is not how I define myself,” he said. “I define myself through my career.” And then I think it dawned on him that he was starting to open up to me and he quickly closed the door and moved on to small talk again. As I sensed our little encounter drawing to a close I quipped, “You know, Johannes, what you said before about the ten commandments and there always being plenty of work for you . . . my goal of starting hundreds of new churches would have a positive effect on society and a negative effect on your work load. I’m sorry to tell you that my ultimate goal is to put you out of work!”
He stood up and stretched, puffed once on his cigar, smiled sarcastically and said, “that, my friend, is never going to happen.”
Friends, please pray for Johannes as well as for Max and Klaudia. Pray that they would come to know God personally. By the way – our gift to Max was a German copy of C.S. Lewis, A Mere Christianity.
Please also continue praying for the church plants in: Moenchengladbach, Euskirchen, Hennef and Cologne. We will share more about them in the future. Pray also for our work toward starting a national center for church planting development. More meetings are planned in June and July as we strive toward this goal.
In HIS Service,
Jason (and Sue)
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