Happy Atheist

This past Sunday was a great day.  

It was Easter.  

Time to celebrate the Love of Christ and have some candy too, 

because salvation is pretty sweet. (sorry bad pastor humor) 

It was a beautiful time to spend with family and quite frankly the weather was equally beautiful. 

Nothing like a spectacular Spring day on Easter, it just seems to fit. 

The most memorable part of the day was not so much church, 

but what happened after church.

My wife has a pretty cool blog and we were scoping out some sweet spots for taking pics.

We landed on Kelly Drive off the river in Philly, by boathouse row. 

As I was taking some shots of my wife and son, a man asked if he could take a picture of all of us.

Normally giving a stranger a nice camera to take your picture in Philly is probably not the best idea, but I had a good feeling about this guy.

He really took his time to frame our picture and make us look good. 

This gentleman mentioned he was a photographer and after our mini shoot,
he showed me some of his work on his iPhone.

He had some great photographs.

After going thru his mobile portfolio he asked what I do.

A question that I like, and sometimes do not like, because I never know how people will respond.

So I went for it, I said "I am a Pastor."

That was proceeded by a big chuckle from our friend, and he replied,

"Of all things a Pastor... just my luck, I am a card carrying Atheist."

I smiled and laughed too (I didn't know Atheists carry cards).

I introduced myself and my family and he told me that his name was Will.

We had a great conversation.

He was very kind. 

He actually talked about Jesus more than I did, and said that the only way he would believe in Him is if Jesus would be on the Larry King Show.

What made an impact on me the most was that Will used to believe in God,

until he got the heaven beat out of him.

Growing up Will was beat up by Christians, often.

Even as I write that last sentence, it brings tears to my eyes.

Will reminds me of my brother Jack, who was also beat up by Christians, often.

There was even time during Jack's college years that I didn't know if he would
believe in God from all the hurts he experienced.

I think every Christian has a path.
I think everybody gets hurt, sometimes even by Christians.

In my experience I have come to know a number of Atheists, 

and most if not all Atheists have had some experience in the church and not a good one.

Faith is not flawless.

It may be irony, or the beginning of bad joke, that a Pastor and Atheist would meet on Easter.

C.S. Lewis once said, ""Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but
when you look back everything is different."

I hope that one day when my friend remembers this Sunday,
he looks back and remembers an Easter.