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Campus Life, June/July 2008

I'll Never Give Up on Patrick
Even though Patrick rejected God and Christianity, I refused to give up on him.
by Eva von Trapp as told to Krishana Kraft

One Wednesday night of my sophomore year, my non-Christian friend Patrick* sat quietly next to me during our youth group discussion. After my youth pastor introduced the night's topic, he encouraged us to ask questions and share our thoughts. Patrick didn't say anything.

After the meeting, Patrick told me, with an edge to his voice, "Eva, it's just not for me! I don't want to have anything to do with church or youth group."

Patrick and I became friends in eighth grade. While I never liked him as a boyfriend, he was easy to talk to and a great listener. He'd talk about frustrations he had with his dad and how he dealt with his parents' divorce. As for me, I'd call him when I had a bad day or wanted his thoughts about a guy I liked.

During my sophomore year, I got serious about my faith. My conversations with Patrick changed. I wanted to talk to him about God and my Christian beliefs. Patrick didn't even believe there was a God. It didn't help that he'd met too many believers who acted like they were better than everyone else. He thought all Christians were like that. Well, almost all Christians. I tried hard never to come across as a self-righteous know-it-all, so I guess he saw me as an exception. Or, to be honest, he probably chose to be my friend in spite of my beliefs.

Even though Patrick rejected God and Christianity, I refused to give up on him. After inviting him to youth group several times, he finally agreed to attend that one Wednesday night meeting with me. I hoped he'd see my friends as different from the other Christians he'd met. And I prayed the group discussion would make him more open to Jesus. But that night my hopes and prayers went unanswered.

When he said youth group wasn't for him, I went on the defensive. "But why?" I asked.

"Look, I didn't agree with the discussion and I didn't feel welcome there. So just drop it."

I wanted to yell back, "You chose not to feel welcomed. It wasn't because you weren't welcomed by the group!"

Instead, I kept my mouth shut. I decided not to bring up God for a while. In fact, I waited until the beginning of my junior year. But instead of talking, I decided to write my thoughts about faith in letters to him. Doing it this way allowed me to get advice from my youth pastor. And I thought it would give Patrick time alone to think about what I had to say. I felt this approach would keep either of us from getting angry or defensive.

At school, I handed him my first letter and told him about my idea.

"I'll read what you want to say, and try to understand it," he said. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to believe it."

Here's what I said to him in my first letter:

Thanks for reading this letter and being open to what I have to say. I care about you and want you to know about my most important relationship—with Jesus. I know even before I share about Jesus you have questions about God's existence and how man ended up on Earth. Imagine you found a perfectly working iPod in the dirt. Would you assume that the screen, computer chip, plastic encasing, etc. came together by chance to create this machine that plays your favorite tunes?

As Patrick and I wrote back and forth, he wasn't all that impressed by what I had to say. And he always argued that evolution was just as defendable as Christianity. Even so, his letters didn't feel angry or full of sarcasm. I thanked God for Patrick's response and asked him to keep working in my friend's heart.

Patrick and I wrote letters back and forth for about three weeks. When I figured I didn't have much more to say, I stopped writing.

These days Patrick and I spend most of our time together talking about stuff that's on our minds—on occasion it has to do with God. The most important thing is that through my letters I had a chance to explain what I believe.

I do know one thing: God loves Patrick. I think he's patiently waiting for him to become one of his children—just as it says in 2 Peter 3:9. Verses like this one give me hope that God will continue to use my friendship and prayers to help Patrick come to Jesus.

Eva is a senior in high school. She received evangelism training from Dare 2 Share, an organization dedicated to helping Christian students witness to their friends. Learn more about Dare 2 Share at dare2share.org.

Read more from 'How I Share Christ'

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