Closer

We are called to be faithful to be seed-planters, communicating God's Word through our words and our actions. Paul teaches in 1st Corinthians 3:
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

It's quite possible that an embracing of spiritual truth and acknowledging the existence of God can be building block in order for someone to truly know God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. I think of Barry Meguiar's familiar words about moving someone closer to Jesus in his Revival Outside the Walls feature heard on Faith Radio.  We can consider our own level of faithfulness as we represent Christ. 

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In John 14, we find that Jesus is teaching about heaven, and tells the disciples:
4 And where I go you know, and the way you know."
5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

I mentioned earlier that someone having a spiritual experience and declaring the existence of God can a critical step in discovering Jesus Christ.  You could also say that a "spiritual" experience could be counterproductive to someone experiencing Jesus and could lead them on the wrong path, an errant way to experience the Lord.  

I thought about this as I considered a recent Christian Post story about Chester Hanks, who is known by the nickname, "Chet." He is the son of actors Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson. The story, by Jeannie Law, explores what you might call a revelation or experience with God.  Law writes that Hanks...

...made an appearance on the “IMPAULSIVE Clips” podcast, where he opened up about a time in his teens that his famous parents sent him away to a wilderness camp because of his bad behavior.

The 30-year-old said it was during that time in his young life that he realized God was real. At age 17, Hanks spent 12 weeks at a camp in a remote area of Utah. Filled with rage and far removed from civilization, the then-professing “atheist” said it was a “day hike” that changed his life.

In the interview, which the Post notes contains "vulgar language," Hanks related he went to the edge of a cliff on top of a mountain, which was a shift from his previous 12 weeks in the desert - he said: "So I'm looking around, and I'm so overcome by emotion. It felt like I was touched by the hand of God. It was at that moment God revealed Himself to me,” and he added, “All that anger, and that hate, and that resentment flipped. It inverted to just infinite hope, gratitude, peace, love.” 

Hanks said he was addicted to drugs and alcohol from age 16 to 24; he said, “Any experience I've had on psychedelics doesn't even come close to this...It was at that moment, that was the birth of my spiritual life, that was when I was overcome. I knew, 'OK, no, there is something else out there. There is a higher power, there is a higher intelligence because it felt like it just tapped me on the shoulder.”  

Law notes:

It’s unclear what religious affiliation the young Hanks subscribes to, but he has a giant cross tattooed on his back. His famous dad has said in the past that he converted to the Greek Orthodox Church after marrying Wilson.

In a previous Christian Post article, Law reported that Hanks is an ordained minister and had told Scripps News:

"I must say that when I go to church — and I do go to church — I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'why people are as they are' and 'why bad things happen to good people,' and 'why good things happen to bad people.' … The mystery is what I think is, almost, the grand unifying theory of all mankind.

He is also credited as saying, "I think that the grace of God seems to be not only in the eye of the believer, but also in the hands of the believer," regarding the Church doing charitable work. 

Spiritual sensitivity is certainly on display here. Only God knows what is in the hearts of Tom Hanks, Chet Hanks, Rita Wilson, or anyone else.  Talk of God may not indicate that the presence of Jesus is there - but there is an openness, and one can only hope that as Chet Hanks continues on his spiritual journey that he will meet the only way to know the Father, and that is by knowing the Son.

Chet has certainly taken steps - he has moved from self-proclaimed atheist to acknowledging the existence of God.  He has been able to apparently walk away from his drug use through reliance on God.  He, like all of us should be, could certainly be moving closer.  And, as I like to say, you never know what God is doing in a person's heart and God can change anyone.  

Our job, as Barry Meguiar reminds us is to be faithful to plant seeds, to move people closer to Jesus. When we encounter a person who is open and receptive to spiritual things, it may be possible to engage him or her in a spiritual conversation and to show that person the one true way to the Father - the One who said that He is the way, the truth, and the life.