Update #9.1 - In Which God Writes our Conclusion

When we walked into High Point Coffee, we noted the fact that this, at last, was our final coffee-shop of the trip. We assessed the situation: a man reading a book in one corner, a group of three students studying near the front, a lone barista, and a couple talking to one another around a round table. Lots of potential.

"You take the barista, and I'll talk to this guy about what he's reading," I told Denny, and we split.

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"Are you a Steinbeck fan?" I asked, noticing the cover of his book.

"Yeah, I like some of his stuff. I saw this one at the store today and figured I'd pick it up."

"Very well. I'm an English major, so I like hearing about what other people are reading."

"Yeah, well this one's a little more obscure, but Of Mice in Men and The Grapes of Wrath are both good ones. I haven't gotten far enough in this one to know."

A few minutes later, he and his son headed off to dinner. Time for a new target.

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Wondering how to start up a conversation with the couple, I was surprised to see the girl lean over and look at me. "I heard you say you were an English major?"

"Yeah, I am!" This was neat - someone engaging *me*.

"Well, I am too. Where do you go to school." I took this as an invitation to chat and didn't want to lose the opportunity.

"I go to Samford in Birmingham," I explained, picking up my bag and moving towards them. "I think I'll join y'all over here." As welcoming as ever, they smiled as I sat down across from them.

"What is that you're reading," the girl asked. These people were different. Genuinely interested in who I was and what I cared about.

"It's Through Painted Deserts - by Don Miller, the same guy who wrote Blue Like Jazz. Have you heard of him?"

"Yeah!" she said. "We've actually been going around giving out John Piper tracts."

"Really?" This was certainly something new. "Well, y'all would be interested in what we've been doing for the past week." At this point, Denny showed up.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Michael." "I'm April, nice to meet you." "And I'm Kevin." Somehow my name entered the fray as well.

"They've been giving out Piper tracts," I told my counterpart. "Anyways," I said, addressing Kevin and April, "we've been on what we call an evangelistic road trip..." And we went into story-telling mode. The two were intrigued as we told our tales, and eventually I asked them about their tract-giving.

"So what are y'all doing here?" I asked after their explanation.

"The same thing you are," they laughed. "As soon as you two walked in the door, we tried to come up with some way to engage you. 'They're wearing backpacks,' we said. 'We can ask them if they're students.' And then I heard you were an English major and thought, 'Hey! here's our chance to talk to them.'"

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So it was that here, in the very last coffee-shop of our trip, we met a brilliant couple, ready and willing - evangelizing to us.

And what a glorious conclusion! Written, we are confident, by the author of life Himself.

~Alan T. Halbrooks