“Hey, can I sit down here for a few moments?” I had spent the day with counseling students in Charlotte, meeting with some staff at the Charlotte campus, and then dinner with one of the administrators. It was about 8:30 at night and I was tired, but I am an evangelist, so when I pulled up my car and saw two tired construction workers having a smoke in the back of the motel, I stopped to talk with them.

“Hey, I’m Peter and this is Abdullah,” announced Peter even before I had a chance to talk. They were both hospitable and open to friendship from first sight.

“Good to meet you. I’m Scott.”

“What do you do, Scott?”

Thus began an hour of late-night spontaneous philosophizing, theologizing, and evangelizing. “I work at a seminary. I help to train pastors, priests, counselors, missionaries, and evangelists.” I added “the evangelists” because it often opens doors in these types of serendipitous conversations.

“Wow,” remarked Abdullah, “That is so interesting, because my father was a Muslim and my mother was Baptist. I really had no religion, but I like to talk about what life is all about.”

“Here we go,” I thought, and then I prayed a silent prayer, “Jesus speak to us all!”

Peter quickly responded, “My dad was a Muslim also, but my mother is a Jehovah Witness. I have a question, “What is this all about? I mean what is the meaning of life: just to live a while, grow old, and die? Is there more reason than that?”

Well, I thought, here are two very open young men, what I call itinerant construction workers. They work in a city doing framing on houses or putting in cable, for a week or two or a month, and then then move on to somewhere else. Most of the time they live in motels and see family and friends on weekends.

“Well, we survive and make sure that the species continues. That is why we exist,” answered Abdullah.

I must admit, I was caught off guard. I have heard that exact conclusion about our existence from PhD students of other institutions! It got more interesting as I listened and prayed.

“That doesn’t sound right. Is that all?” said Peter. “We live, do a few things, and hope that other people are also born to do the same thing?”

“Well,” I interjected, “I think the Bible is clear that we are created to glorify God who has created us and saved us—something we don’t deserve. But God is love and seeks to extend his love and makes it possible for us to love others. We all know the need for more love, right?”

“That sounds better, but the God of the Old Testament, YAH, is different from Jesus who is nice and loving. Are there two Gods?”

Then we talked about how there is only one God, and we talked about God’s judgment, why sin needs to be punished, what heaven is like, and on and on. It was only an hour or so, but it was refreshing for all of us. There was little actual light where we were except for the distant streetlight and the glow of the cigarettes. I was getting tired, so I thanked them and excused myself, praying that I had not “failed” God by leaving early. However, it was clear that my new friends in passing heard the good news of Jesus, they knew that God speaks through the Bible, and that heaven is a wonderful place for those who choose to follow Jesus. It was not a theologically precise or neat presentation, but like most evangelism, we bring Good News by answering questions and pointing the way. I find that most of my evangelism is incomplete but helps to lead people toward Jesus.

In the dark, we can point towards light.

My prayer is: “Jesus, may my life constantly point to you, the one who is the Light of the World. Amen.”

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him here is no darkness.” (1 John 1:5)

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.