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Hugs, Faith and Unexpected Adventures
October 5, 2009
John Strubel
 It’s no mystery why random people – men and women – in random situations, in random cities across the country are approaching Lee Strobel and hugging him. The New York Times bestselling author has led countless people to Christ.
“I was getting off a plane in San Jose a couple weeks ago and, out of the blue, a guy came running up to me, threw his arms around my neck and said ‘your book was instrumental, and I became a Christian. It changed my life,” said Strobel.
“What struck me about that is how that’s going to be true about all of us some day in Heaven when we find out all the people we influenced, and we didn’t know we’ve influenced. Someday that will all be revealed,” he added. “I’ve never met this guy.”
It wasn’t the first time Strobel was the recipient of a random hug. In the new book Unexpected Adventures, co-authored with ministry partner Mark Mittelberg, Strobel shares tales of several hugs from absolute strangers.
“I just got a phone message from a Jewish gentleman who read one of my books, and he wanted to share with me how much it influenced him and his wife,” said Strobel. “One of the joys of writing books is that you never know who on the planet, at any given moment, is reading it. It’s in all different languages and someone in China, someone on the other side of the world is being influenced by it, while I’m sleeping.”
As part of the University’s vision to integrate faith in learning, leading and serving, Charleston Southern University assigned students Strobel’s bestselling book The Case for Christ (1998, Zondervan) as a summer reading project. The book is now being used in residence life small group discussions and programs.
The perception of some Christ-followers in today’s society is the exact opposite of what God’s expectations are. The Bible encourages us to live on the edge, take chances in faith, yet some believers are, well, predictable. This trend is one of the underlying themes in Unexpected Adventures.
“We’re not salt and light the way Matthew 5 tells us to be, and consequently our faith shrinks, and we become comfortable in that cocoon,” explained Strobel. “In the midst of that our faith begins to shrivel because we don’t allow God to take us on these ‘unexpected adventures.’”
“One of the truths of living on the evangelistic edge – and I don’t mean being obnoxious about it – but I mean being heads up about opportunities to get into spiritual conversations,” said Strobel. “It raises all levels of our spiritual life – prayer life, worship life, Bible study, dependence on God – all of these things are heightened when we’re living in the evangelistic moment and seeking opportunities to influence others for Him.”
Then, Strobel made a surprising confession, saying he still gets nervous whenever he shares the gospel because “there’s a lot hanging in the balance.” There is no subtle way to get into a faith-based discussion. But Strobel said that’s part of the adventure.
“Risk and adventure always involve some discomfort,” he said. “If we’re willing, God is always able. If we’re willing to take a risk, if we’re willing to get into a conversation, discuss spiritual matters with people, serve people in the name of Christ, even if we feel unprepared, God is going to use us. When we see God work, it builds our faith, and the next time we’re a little more prepared. We feel more confident that God is going to show up.”
Strobel said Unexpected Adventures is a six-week devotional inspired by the Christian pastors who are challenged daily with “keeping the evangelistic value high -- the value of community, the value of Bible study, the value of prayer, the value of worship. The evangelism value is one that leaks away faster than anything else, because it’s a value not based on us but somebody else.”
On a recent trip to San Antonio, Texas, Strobel met an atheist and asked the obvious question, “Why are you an atheist?”
The man responded, “I’ve just seen too many Christians who turned me off.”
Christians chasing the unchurched away? It’s true. Christians are not always the best representations of Christ. “That does happen,” admitted Strobel, who has stories to back it up. “None of us claims to be perfect, but there are people who profess Christianity, who are living in such a way that it chases people from God.
“Jesus used in Matthew 5:13-16 salt and light as positive metaphors. To be salt, to cause people to thirst for God, and to be light, to shine his compassion into hurting places of despair, but some people are like salt in a wound.”
Strubel responds to those situations with sincerity and “humbly live out a surrendered life for Christ, that is a good testimony to other people.”
That and, maybe, a hug.
*
Strobel will appear at CSU on Tuesday, November 1o and Wednesday, November 11. Tables for “An Evening with Lee Strobel” are now available. Contact Karen Collins in the CSU development office for details or to reserve your table. He will also speak to faculty, staff and students at Convocation on November 11 at 11 a.m. in the Lightsey Chapel Auditorium.
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University Relations Web Exclusives
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