During rush hour, this place is packed, and crossing from one end of the terminal to another without colliding into anyone is no small feat. You have to constantly be aware of who's coming at you, at what direction, and with what speed. What adjustments do you have to make to cross safely? Unconsciously, our brains are making instantaneous calculations to answer all these questions - in the forms of parametric equations - to navigate us through the crowd.
Without pulling out actual math, parametric equations are useful tools to describe multiple moving bodies coming at different directions and velocities. If the man in the power suit and I continue at our current trajectories, will we cross paths? If so, where and when will that happen? Since collisions only happen if we cross paths at the same time and place, sometimes I'll speed up to reach the crossing point before tourist family does. Other times I'll veer a bit left so the woman walking perpendicular to me will cross in front of me.
As I was thinking about how my morning commute is spent avoiding running into people, I realized that in a way, my job is largely about doing the opposite calculations - how do I meet people where they are in their spiritual journeys? It would be foolish to walk through Grand Central at rush hour on autopilot, with no regard to where people are going.
In the same way, I don't think it would be the wisest course of action to spout out a memorized spiel about Jesus when I meet students on campus. Where are they coming from? What's important to them? When I talk to them, do the vocabulary and references I use simply fly over their heads because they have no context for what I'm saying? Is the God I share about big enough to encompass the problems they face and satisfy their deepest longings? Or does the way I present him relegate him to the "irrelevant" box? Granted, people's interest in God is not dependent on me, but I desire that my conversations with them about God help them see who God is more clearly, not confuse them more or confirm that Christians are wackos or that God doesn't care about them.
The vast majority of students I initiate spiritual conversations with aren't ready to make a commitment to follow Jesus. That's totally fine - it's simply where they are in their journey. Yet as surely as Grand Central is packed at rush hour, I am confident that if God wants someone to enter a relationship with him, he will send many others to cross paths with them after me.
