Mark Cahill is one of the rare people who is always looking for a way to turn a conversation into a discussion about eternity. He has honed his skill and in his new book, The Watchmen, he lets us sit in on some intriguing conversations that he has had. Here is just one of dozens of examples:

Before I fly anywhere, I always take time to pray for whomever I will be sitting next to on my flight. One time when I was heading to Newark, I sat next to Darin. He worked for the CIA. So I kept asking him a bunch of questions that he couldn`t answer! It was a lot of fun. I was trying to pick his brain, but there were just some things he couldn`t tell me. I guess I didn`t have a high enough security clearance! During our conversation —wait, let`s stop right there.

Remember something very key when it comes to sharing your faith. Sharing your faith isn`t a presentation, but a conversation. This is so important. Jesus had a conversation with the woman at the well, and the rich young ruler. Paul had a conversation with Agrippa and Felix. During those conversations they presented things, but the conversations always went back and forth. Can you have a conversation? As a matter of fact, you do it all the time. The real question is: Are you going to leave those conversations in the temporary realm, or are you going to make them eternal conversations?

During my conversation with Darin, he told me that he was an agnostic. Now always remember that if you don`t know what a word means, just ask the person: What do you mean by agnostic? What do you mean by atheist? What do you mean by Muslim? What do you mean by evolutionist? Those types of questions keep conversations going, and you can see what the person believes that doesn`t line up with the Bible.

An agnostic is someone who has not seen enough evidence to push them to believe in God or to push them not to believe in God. That is how most people define it. So I asked, "What would be enough evidence to prove to you that there is a God?" So we started going back and forth. It was a great give and take. He was a smart man with some good questions. Later in our conversation, Darin told me that he was on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001!

My mind began to whirl. That was the flight that went down in Pennsylvania killing everyone on board. Darin then proceeded to tell me that his boss called him on the Friday before September 11th, and said he wanted him in California a day earlier. So he switched his flight from Tuesday, September 11th to Monday, September 10th —still on Flight 93! He then told me that he has his ticket for Flight 93 on September 11th framed on his wall.

So I asked him a very simple question, "Was that luck, was that chance, or was that God that kept you off of that plane flight?" He said, "Yes, yes, yes!" He knew something or Somebody kept him off of that flight! So I let Darin know that the reason that God kept him off of that plane flight was so that he could hear the rest of the story. And the rest of the story is what Jesus did for him on the cross! He told me he liked to read, so I gave him one of my books. You see, my job [as a watchman] was simple: to pull the trumpet out, blow the trumpet, and warn Darin trouble was coming for all of eternity if he did not repent and believe upon Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins.

Readers of Cahill`s other books, One Thing You Can`t Do in Heaven and One Heartbeat Away, know his passion for the lost and his bold encouragement to Christians to obey the Great Commission. If you have been yearning to better obey the Lord in this area, Cahill`s three books will both instruct and inspire you.