Living A Life That Demands Explanation

This week we spent four days in Chicago, IL for the first Americas Conference, which gathered Alpha delegates from Canada, United States, and Central/South America. 

We interns did our best to mingle and chat with various delegates and speakers (even Mr. Nicky Gumbel himself).  Great discussion happened at breakout sessions, but just like on a typical Alpha course, the meal time provided space for conversation. One particular meal stands out when we ate with Alex, who shared a bit of his story with us. I wish he could write this blog post himself, but I will do my best to represent the heart of it for him.

Alex shared how he grew up in a broken home with divorced parents by a young age. His mother had a Christian family background, but they never practiced any religion in their home. He went to college and experienced the “typical” college life of drinking, partying with girls, and doing some homework in-between. He graduated and started working for the BBC, which was a dream job for him. Alex shared how this ideal job didn’t satisfy like he thought it would. He worked 9 to 5 days and came home wondering “what’s it all about?” He was dating a stunningly beautiful girl at the time and even this was not completely fulfilling to his amazement.

About this time situations forced him to look for new housing and he ended up living with a cousin his age that he didn’t know very well. This cousin lived life quite different from him. Alex struggled to balance working by day and partying by night, while his cousin was focused, responsible, and happy. One day Alex went out drinking and fell asleep on the train home, completely missing his stop. He road the train so far that it required an expensive cab ride home. He came in at 2am in the morning and his cousin was awake waiting for him to make sure he was okay. He asked his cousin why his life was so strikingly different and the cousin replied, “Because of Jesus.” This is not what Alex wanted to hear. 

A conversation began that evening that continued for months. One of the biggest discoveries for Alex is when his cousin began dating and Alex heard they weren’t having sex before marriage, but instead waiting till they were fully committed to each other. Alex began to think that maybe there was indeed something more to Christianity other than hanging out on Sunday morning, which he thought was a mere social gathering. 

He asked more questions and this led his cousin to suggest Alex try the local Alpha course. Alex went and was quite combative in his small group discussions, but God slowly opened his heart. On the weekend away, Nicky Gumbel invited people to open their hands if they wanted to invite God’s Holy Spirit to fill their life. Alex refused and kept his hands closed. When he saw everyone around him receiving the Spirit of God and being filled with joy, he became frustrated and went to his room. He laid face-down on his bed and in desperation thought to himself, “God, you are either real and don’t want to get to know me OR you aren’t real and I’ve wasted the last few weeks of my life.” In that moment he sensed God telling him to flip over, so he did, which put him in a posture of open hands. In an instant Alex sensed God’s Spirit filling his heart and he shouted “You’re real! You’re real!” Excited, he returned to tell his Alpha small group. This was in 2007. Alex has since quit his “dream job” to pursue more fulfilling work as a International Relationship Manager for Alpha.

The main point Alex stressed to us interns is to remember that each of us are ambassadors for Christ and we show the world what God is like by living a life that demands explanation. It was noticing the difference between his own lifestyle and that of his cousin’s that Alex became curious about God. So live a life worthy of your calling because there are many more people like Alex out there.