On a typical hot, humid, summer day in Cincinnati, Joe Delaney and his eight-year-old son were int he backyard playing catch. As the two lobbed the ball back and forth, Joe could tell something was on Jared's mind. At first they talked about Reds baseball, friends, and summer vationa. Then the conversation took a more serious turn, and Joe felt like a backyard ballplayer who suddenly found himself in the major leagues.
"Dad, is there a God?"
Joe had the same helpless feeling he expereinced on the high school baseball team when he lost sight of a fly ball in the blazing sun. He didn't know wheter to move forward, backward, or just stay put. A string of trite answers raced thorugh his mind. In the end Joe opted for honesty. "I don't know, Jared," he replied as the ball landed solidly in his glove.
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| A Prayer Attached to a Balloon! "Dear God, Are You Real?" |
Joes' agnosticisim failed to stifle his son's curiosity. Jared dug a little deeper. "If there is a God, how would you know him?"
"I really have no idea, Jared. I only went to church a couple of times when I was a kid, so I don't know a lot about these kinds of things."
Jared seemed deep in thought for a few minutes as the game of catch continued. Suddenly, he headed for the house. "I'll be right back," he yelled over his shoulder. " I have to get something." Jared soon returned with a mylar helium balloon fresh from the circus along with a pen and an index card.
"Jared, what in the world are you doing?" Joe asked.
"I'm going to send a message to God---airmail," the boy earnestly replied.
Before Joe could protest, his son had started writing. "Dear God," Jared wrote on the index card, "if you are real and if you are there, send people who know you to Dad and me."
Joe kept his mouth shut, not wanting to dampen his son's enthusiasm. This is silly, he thought as helped Jared fasten the card to the balloon's string. But God, I hope you're watching, he added to his silent petition. After Jared let go of the balloon, father and son stood with their faces to the sky and watched it sail away.
Two days later I became part of the answer to this unusual inquiry. Joe and Jared pulled into the free car wash that our church was holding as part of our outreach into the community on this particular Saturday morning. "How much?" Joe asked as he neared the line of buckets, sponges, and hoses.
"It's free," I told him. "No strings attached."
"Really!" Joe exclaimed. He seemed intrigued with the idea of getting something for nothing. "But why are you doing this?"
"We just want to show you God's love in a practical way."
It was as if that simple statement opened a hidden door to Joe's heart. The look on his face was incredible. "Wait a minute!" he practically shouted, "Are you guys Christians?"
"Yeah, we're Christians," I replied.
"Are you the kind of Christians who believe in God?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Yes we're that kind of Christians."
After directing a big grin at Jared, Joe proceeded to tell me the story of releasing the helium balloon with its message only days earlier. "I guess you're the anwer to one of the strangest prayers God's ever received," Joe said.
Steve Sjogren's classic book on Servant Evangelism, Conspiracy of Kindness, has sold over 250,000 copies. This article is an excerpt from Chapter 1. (published by author's permission)
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