Subway Talks

Subway talks are always fun (for me, at least). Of course, most people do not want to be bothered during the few minutes they are in the seat next to you, being content to listen to the music blaring out of their headphones or act as if they are sleeping.

But other times, people are up for small talk or even a conversation. Usually a conversation begins when one of the two people in the seat has something about him or with him that is out of the ordinary. Then, the other person comments on it, and the conversation goes on from there. Sometimes I, being the “inexperienced” person that I am, like to ask people if their facial piercings hurt when they had them done, or if their inch-long nails make it difficult to pick things up.

But since I don’t look drastically different than the average subway rider, nothing about me tends to arouse a conversation-worthy curiosity. But something with me often does—my Bible. A number of people have asked me if what I was reading was a Bible or they have told me how happy they were to see a young person reading the Bible.

I sat next to a Seventh Day Adventist lady last week, and we had a fascinating conversation for 10 minutes or so. She had grown up Baptist, but began to be concerned that her congregation no longer held a Biblical position on homosexuality. She explained to me that meeting with the church on Saturdays was from God (the fourth commandment), and that meeting on Sundays was from man, and is merely a Catholic invention (or perversion). I shared with her a few reasons why I believe otherwise, but nonetheless I enjoyed meeting a Seventh Day Adventist after having read and heard about the denomination.

This past Tuesday a man told me (after the proper subway small-talk greeting, “Do you speak English?”) that all the things John wrote in Revelation are coming true. He told me that the reason all the cell phone companies are offering three-for-the-price-of-one deals is to test a global satellite tracking system. He moved on to tell me that computer chips are already being experimentally placed in the right hands of people to set the stage for the “mark of the beast” to be implemented.

I have to admit that there is so much about eschatology that I do not understand. So, I spent a lot of time listening and asking questions rather than telling him what I believed would happen. I tried to direct the conversation more toward a discussion on how one ought to ready himself for the end times, and I was happy to talk about the Gospel for the next few minutes. I scrambled to write down my contact information, and I hope to hear from him someday.

I have not put the majority of my evangelistic hopes in subway talks, though. Of course I enjoy it when the opportunity arises, but redemptive relationships appear to be the best vehicle for the Gospel here. Now if I could be extremely regular in catching the subway at one time, then maybe I could begin to form friendships with the other extremely disciplined individuals—and then I might have the best of both worlds.