Have You Had a Real Encounter with God?

Have you ever had an encounter with a celebrity? It's one thing to see them on stage, on TV, or in a movie, but seeing them in real life changes things. They are no longer some voice on an album or face on a screen. They are real people and real lives.

My weirdest celebrity encounter happened right when I moved to Boston.

While this one is a bit obscure, it's worth telling. We moved to Boston in 2016, weeks after the closing ceremony of the Rio Summer Olympics. Like many people, we do not watch track and field regularly, but we are a big-time Summer Olympics family.

You may remember a US racer named Abbey D'Agostino. She stuck out to me because she was a Christian and during a 5000m heat Abbey tripped over a New Zealand racer named Nikki Hamblin who had fallen in front of her. Abbey injured her knee in the fall, but she still got up and helped Hamblin to the finish line. While Abbey's gold medal hopes were dashed, she received an award for sportsmanship, and her story was so inspirational that she was all over the Olympic coverage. This exposure allowed her to share her faith with the world.

A few weeks later I learned that Abbey attended the church we would be serving with our first year in Boston! I began to get nervous about meeting her. What would I say? How would I introduce myself? I didn't want to ruin it.

Sure enough, on one of my first Sundays, I was helping on the hospitality team, and Abbey walked in. Service had already started, and the music was loud, but that didn't stop me from creepily leaning over and saying in her ear, "I know who you are." She gave a small smile and nodded, but did not say anything back. I was horrified at my actions. I ruined it. It was one of the most cringy things I have ever done (And that is saying a lot). The embarrassment almost caused me to pack up my family and move home.

Meeting Abbey was really cool. But the coolest part was that she didn't hold my creepiness against me. I was also able to serve with her at church a few times. I saw that her faith was not put on for the cameras, but was absolutely genuine. I got to experience her faith in Christ. Because it's one thing to see something from far away on a screen, but experiencing it confirms its reality.

A true experience with God can change what seems theoretical or subjective into an objective reality. Have you had a real experience with God? Tomorrow we are going to see how an experience with God can confirm the reality of our faith.