therefore there arose a discussion on

I fly often, and my usual flight is a 5-6 hr trip. Because I don't suffer fools, 9 out of 10 times I don't speak a word to the person sitting beside me beyond a casual greeting. Every now and then I'll encounter someone I'll speak to for 5-10 min snippets. Last night, however, I ended up speaking to the guy beside me for several hours. The primary topic of conversation? Video games. Last night, my conversation moved from handheld games to opinions of specific games to the game industry to the different consoles, and embedded within the conversation I discussed anecdotes about video games.

What's interesting is that I can imagine many topics around which I'd carry on long conversations (with strangers or with friends): video games, favorite sports team, politics, golf, movies, etc. And the reason people can bond around these topics is that people have their own experiences and stories that they can tell about that topic. Conversations succeed when both parties can excitedly and/or passionately take a point of view and discuss. But what I realized this morning is that -- even in conversations with other believers -- there aren't a lot of conversations I have with people about faith that don't feel like I'm teaching Sunday School or trying to convey a message.

Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of conversations that include elements of faith. I've had arguments about theology. I've shared my testimony. I've discussed prayers. I've shared thoughts about particular scriptural passages. But these were all specific instances around specific topics. What is harder to recall is an organic conversation about faith that jumped from faith topic to faith topic where both parties shared stories about their faith. And I don't know if I'm alone in that experience or not. Thinking it would be great if I and all other Christians had similar conversations where we begin with Noah's Ark and move from there to Job to eternal security to Lazarus to election to why Joel Osteen is the antichrist, embedding our excitement and passion and personal stories about this walk, this wonderful walk we have before us at all times.