While in Orlando, I was interviewed by James Burkhardt, host and founder of SnTRadio.com, a great Christian radio site on the Internet. Before our session, I decided to get some coffee. I slipped a cardboard holder onto a cup, poured in a bit of cream and sweetener, placed it all in the self-serve coffee machine, and eagerly pulled the lever. Then I became distracted (probably due to my throng of adoring fans.)

 Instead of picking up the RHPS (Ridiculously Hard Plastic Stirrer, complete with pointy end capable of piercing steel), I grabbed a regular straw and began to stir. But there was growing resistance. Certain the machine had included an unwanted blob of something in my coffee, I pulled out my stirring device and noticed something odd.

 Every bit of the straw that had entered the lovely liquid, had melted. Yes, melted! Stunned, I watched as the straw cooled, coiled upon itself, and reshaped into a plastic pretzel. Had I used the RHPS, a stream of boiling coffee would have flowed into my mouth and down my throat. Goodbye interview. Hello hospital. Well, after the bloodcurdling screams, of course.

 I love how God intervenes in our lives. I'm not into the lucky universe coincidence theory, though I understand how it came about. When we refuse to consider the possibility of intelligent design, creative purpose, and divine intention, what's left to explain the existence of the universe, our planet capable of life, or remarkably incredible beings? What's left to explain the existence of... love?

Luck, coincidence, random chance...this is how many attempt to explain the greatest things imaginable. They see no one moving in their lives or the lives of others. They find no one leading them to discover opportunities. They feel no one beside them when they're alone and their world falls apart. They hear no one whispering throughout all of creation, I love you.

We all have stories that have brought us to the place in life where we are at this very moment. Many have shared their stories with me. All kinds of people with different backgrounds and experiences. Some believe that where they are at this moment is in a universe devoid of a divine being. And their belief is shaped by a refusal to honestly, truthfully consider the possibility He exists.

Life can be difficult, unfair, harsh, and cruel. That's true of nature and people as well, at times even those who call themselves Christian. But this refusal is a choice. They see bad people or circumstances and conclude there is no god because a good god would not allow such things. In so doing, they ignore free will, the very thing to which they cling as the basis for their right to believe anything they want.

It's as though they find my straw and think that's the way it's always been or just the way it is. No straw maker would allow his straw to be mangled and useless. They refuse to consider that I was the one who ruined the straw or that a straw maker even now could reshape it into something useful again.

So what should we do? Love and encourage them. Respect them as creatures bearing the image of God. Share with them what we believe and why. Allow them to see Jesus in us. As He said, we must let God be apparent in our lives so they may understand the good that we do points directly to Him. (see Matthew 5:16).

They may see a bad world and believe there is no god, a mangled life and believe there is no hope. But we must show them how God has taken our own misshapen lives, passed us through His fire, and made us whole. We must show them, so they may know...He will do the same for them.