“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8, NIV).

I was walking down the stairs to review a CT scan with a student I had been mentoring when he said, “May I ask you something?”

I stopped at the next landing, “Sure.”

“When your parents died, did you feel more spiritual?” He had recently lost a parent.

“Yes, I did. When someone we love dies, we step into one of those thin spaces where the material world and spiritual world are brought close enough to almost see the other side. We are reminded there is more to life than the material and more to those we love than a brief time on earth.”

I then asked, “What is your personal faith story?”

“My Dad was Muslim and his faith was important to him. I have never really been religious, but I think of myself as spiritual.”

I told him, “You should take your present awareness very seriously. God is real whether you know Him or not. And our lives are much more wonderful if we know Him than if we don’t.”

Our deep conversation ended there. I could tell he had much to process. We continued down the stairs, reviewed the CT images and developed a patient plan.

What happened here?

I need to preface my supposition by my prayer this morning as I left for work. I asked God in a more deliberate way than usual to let me see Him move today. He answered that prayer when the student spoke up.

I suspect my student’s willingness to ask me about spiritual issues grew from a relationship we had developed over several months. He was not afraid to speak to me because he knew I would be interested. Some of his comfort with discussion may have come from the cross on my lapel or from the time I spent with him when his father died.

It helps that I stopped on that stair landing. I could have continued the natural flow of work and missed the moment or minimized it with a casual approach to an eternal issue. That stopping went against my nature and was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Clearly, all my interaction with this student was guided by the Holy Spirit—my desire to see God work that day, the student’s desire to discuss spiritual issues, my stopping, the words that were spoken. God led the way, not I. My words were placed in God’s hands to do what only He can do. They were only one step on a road that I pray leads to a deep and eternal relationship with God through Christ. I pray also God will let me be part of the next step.

So, the ongoing questions for me are:

• How often am I asking God to let me see Him move in my day?
• How much do I really care that others come to know Him?
• Am I regularly building relationships that will allow others to trust me with deep issues?
• Am I holding up faith flags so others may know I’m open to spiritual discussion?
• Am I willing to stop in my busy life to speak on a stair landing about God?
• Am I willing to trust God with the words that come from my mouth, however awkward or insufficient?

Dear Father,

Bless this one to whom you have spoken.

Amen