Transformed life leaves powerful impression

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Have you ever met someone famous? After some thought, I discovered I’ve met a few famous people.

When my husband and I met Brett Favre, my husband couldn’t stop grinning so the photo they took of us is great of Brett and Pat, but they caught me still waiting for them to say cheese. Not too impressive for me.

At a Wisconsin Badger game with my husband’s company, we met Barry Alvarez. Everyone was all crazy except for me. He’s just a man, I said. It’s true, but he is an important man so all the sports fanatics were ecstatic.

I’m the author junkie. Writing a book—now that’s impressive. I’ve met a few authors over the years, including Eva Marie Everson at a Write to Publish Conference. However the most famous author I’ve met was Maya Angelou on February 13, 1985. I was a nervous college reporter on an assignment of a lifetime. I remember her as very kind and encouraging. You can bet I have her autograph and the article I wrote about her. When I saw her on Sesame Street and told my kids I’d met her, well, they thought I was teasing. But, like I said, I have the proof.

So when Lee Strobel, the author of The Case for Christ came to a city near me, you can be sure that I took notice. A friend from church told us months in advance so we marked our calendars and waited to get tickets. My girls and one of their friends joined me and my husband for the conference he was speaking at. My girls and I had read the book and of course, we had seen the movie with the friend who joined us.

Although we knew his story, it was still interesting to hear him in person. Afterward, one of my daughters wanted his autograph so we stood in line to talk with him. He was gracious to let us take a picture also.

I want to hear the famous person’s story and learn what is important to him. Lee Strobel’s story is powerful. This former award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and professed atheist completed a thorough investigation and put Christ’s Resurrection on trial as he tried to disprove it. His Yale Law School training and his experience led him to the conclusion that all the evidence points to the fact that Christianity is true. In his book, he lays out the evidence and invites the reader to reach her own verdict. It’s an amazing testimony of a changed man.

Because Easter is nearing, his presentation was about the Evidence of Easter. He spoke of the execution, the early reports, the empty tomb, and the eye witnesses.

He said he concluded that it took more faith to stick with atheism than to believe.

John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Believe + Receive = Become, Strobel reiterated. “The power of God transforms lives,” he said. “If you sincerely seek God, you will find Him.”

Hearing his testimony and the stories of how his life changing decision impacted his family encouraged us and other fellow believers.

Certainly it is exciting to meet someone famous, but what is amazing is seeing how God used him to touch so many lives. It’s almost like meeting Saul-turned-Paul. Christ can and will use us. We may even be hostile in the beginning, but oh so humble and grateful in the end. Stories of changed lives are precious indeed.

Strobel doesn’t want us to be a fan of Lee Strobel. He wants us to be a fan of Jesus Christ. That is the proper way.

Have you met someone famous?