Discussing Faith

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect... ~1 Peter 3:15

I've often wished that my own faith was as strong as that of my five year old daughter. She is so certain of her place with God and never hesitates to tell others or invite them to our church. As an adult, I know there are many non-believers out there and I avoided the topic of faith in an effort to avoid feeling judged or having to defend something I wasn't prepared to do.

Yesterday, that changed. I sat down for morning coffee with another school mom once the kids were in school. We're quite the unlikely pair but we've developed a good friendship over the past few months. In some ways, the devotion from last Friday on P31 made me think of her. On the surface, it seems like we'd have nothing in common and yet we get along quite well. She was a wonderful friend when I needed someone to drive my daughter to school, then we realized our children (with the masculine and feminine versions of the same name) were born exactly a year apart and started planning a joint birthday party.

I knew that she fell somewhere on the spectrum between "there is no God" and "I have no relationship with God" and that made the topic of faith a taboo in my mind for quite a while. Today, we got talking about Skillet and how you wouldn't necessarily know they are a Christian band by listening to their songs. For the first time, it seemed natural to get into a discussion about Jesus with someone I knew didn't share my beliefs. I told her that the "unconventional" Christian bands are some of the best because they transcend the boundaries of "Christian" music and allow their message to reach "mainstream" media outlets. This is their form of ministry.

From there, we talked about the road of life and my own feelings regarding the journey I am on. And before I knew it, I did something that I've only done one other time in my life... I invited her and her son to church. I won't push her to do it but I truly hope she will consider joining us some Sunday. Perhaps I can get her to attend the Thursday night service that will be offered beginning this month. I respect her feelings and don't want to push her away by trying to pull her to Christ but I pray that He will fill her heart and lead her to a closer relationship with Jesus.

How do you deal with discussing faith with others? Has it become easier over time? What would you say to someone who still feels their Christian legs wobbling under them?