The smoke hole that I discovered a few days ago was finally occupied. Sitting on a bench was a man hunkered over a cigarette staring at the ground. I approached him with a tract to which he quickly refused. Since he would not take the tract, I explained to him what it was and then asked if he attended church. He shook his head no and continued to keep his head down. He looked a bit grieved so I asked, "Are you okay?" He told me that he was about to go to work. I then asked what he did and he informed me that he works with the mentally ill. To see if he had a sense of humor I asked, "I have been referred to as mentally ill. What type of advice do you have?" Still looking down at the ground he said, "I don't care to share with strangers about what I do." At this point I recognized that he was not willing to converse. Hoping for the slightest bit of daylight in this dark conversation, I tried asking one more question, "Do you discuss matters of life and death?" He then finally made eye contact to reply, "Nope." It was a lonely walk back to my apartment. Sometimes when I am witnessing to someone, I think about their family. I have heard countless encounters reply that I remind them of someone in their family that is religious. To me that usually indicates that someone is praying for them. There have been other times where I wonder if I am the only one who has ever prayed for them. Today was one of those encounters when I wonder if he has a family member who is praying for his salvation. If so, I hope the Lord gives them boldness to share the good news, because today, this man was not listening to a stranger.
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