A few days ago, I had a conversation that shocked me a bit. I was having lunch with a friend and former colleague, and we were talking about future kinds of things. I told her that the job I had been head-hunted had fallen through but then mentioned a couple of other positions that I’m applying for, one of which is at a large a well-known conservative university of my denomination. Her somewhat negative reaction to my interest in that position surprised me. I know that she does not share my faith, but I thought she knew enough about me to understand that, while I might not agree with all that comes out of the mouths of well-known highly conservative evangelical Christians, that I am, in fact, a pretty conservative and definitely evangelical Christian. After all, she’s known me for at least 18 years; she has actually attended an event or two at my church when invited; and I’ve never hidden what I believe.

The conversation moved on, though she seemed distracted, until she suddenly asked, “Are you a creationist?”

I was caught a little off-guard by that, but responded honestly. “It depends on what you mean by that. I certainly believe that God created everything.”

“But, recently?” she asked.

Now this threw me into murky waters. I don’t pretend to know when and how God created everything. The arguments that the days of creation have to be 24 hour periods seem a little specious when there wasn’t even a sun until Genesis 1:14. I also tend to think that we are always on dangerous ground when we find ourselves saying, “God had to.” If that’s grounded in his character and firmly Bible-based, it might be okay to say. Otherwise, it’s usually foolish. On the other hand, there is the whole “evening and morning” thing. My own person speculation is that God is a great storyteller who may created the universe just as the action was getting started (with Adam and Eve) but with a backstory (all of the evidence, but not spending the time). Of course, since God is outside time, maybe he created in such a way that some of those seven days were really, really long. The two things I am certain of are that God did it and that all of the scientific evidence does agree with that reality when fully and correctly understood.

There was no long pause in the conversation. I stumbled through a probably less coherent version of the above paragraph, and concluded by explaining that I do believe that the Bible is basically word-for-word true, that I certainly believe that people like Job and Jonah and Adam and Eve were real people and that the things the Bible says happened to them really did happen.

My friend looked at me a bit oddly and commented that maybe the university we had been discussing would be a place I would fit in.

So here is my quandary. Have I been that bad at sharing who I am and what I believe? Or has she been ignoring the evidence I have presented?

I don’t know.

I suspect, really, that it is some of both. She certainly knows that I claim to be a Christian, that I take Christianity serious,  that I attend church regularly, that I’m a missionary kid, that I reference God and Christ more comfortably than most. But I don’t know that I have ever been as clear about my beliefs to her as I should be. On the other side, there is a tendency in a university setting for people to assume that no one really believes that the Bible is true in its entirety. There are a surprising number of church-goers among the faculty who actually don’t believe that at all, many who don’t believe in fundamentals like Christ died to atone for our sin. So I would not be surprised if she had ignored some of the evidence about my beliefs simply because no professor at a state university could actually believe that, could they? She has just realized that at least one of them (and I do know several) actually can.

I guess the real question is what do I take from this moving forward. There was a sense in which my light was shining all along, but was I allowing it to be hidden in part by my circumstances? Do I need to speak more clearly of my faith in these relationship with non-believers or people I suspect are only nominally Christian? I think the only answer there can be yes: I need to be more intentional about sharing what I believe when opportunities arise.

I don’t know what will come of my recent conversation, but I pray that it is God’s way of opening a door to talk of spiritual things. Please pray with me for the courage and calm to speak very clearly in a way that this friend can accept if that door opens.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect I Peter 3:15 (ESV)

Photo by David Monje on Unsplash