A Telemarketer Hears about my Spiritual Birthday

Today is my 22nd spiritual birthday. This morning, while at work, a telemarketer called. She was interested in selling me an employee handbook which handily summarizes employment law. After listening to her, I shared that we have a family business and, while we do follow the law, we haven’t run into any employee issues which would cause us to need such a reference. I did say I would take down her information and file it away in my contact list under “employment, guide, reference” so that I could pull up the info if we ever had a need for it.

Towards the end of the call, I knew, as a telemarketer, that she wouldn’t be asking me if there was anything else she could help me with (my normal cue to try and share the gospel) – but somehow she said something which enabled me to mention it was my birthday, but not my normal birthday, it was my spiritual birthday. I said I guess that was a bit weird, for a person to celebrate a spiritual birthday. She was trying to say “no it isn’t” but wasn’t really coming up with the words (because, think about it, the average non-believer DOES think it VERY weird to celebrate a spiritual birthday!). I then said that the birthday commemorates the day I was saved. I asked if she knew where she would spend eternity – heaven or hell. She said she hoped she knew. I asked where, and she said she hoped heaven.

I said there was a short test a person could take to see if that was true, and asked if she had ever taken the good person test. She hadn’t, and she was open.

Over the next fifteen minutes we discussed the law (she was guilty of breaking the commandments we discussed). When she acknowledged taking God’s name in vain, I asked if she had any children (she sounded like she was perhaps middle-aged). She said she did. I said she had hopefully never taken God’s name in vain in front of her children (generally, even unbelievers will try to control their cursing of God when they are around their children) – and she said, unfortunately, she HAD done it around her children. It’s interesting that, to date, every person I have asked that (swearing around their children) has said they have done it.

She was open to the gospel, and I able to share with her the plan of salvation (the key being repentance)...