A physicist, a train-ride, and a conversation

The other day I took the train home through the Cascade Mountains as opposed to driving my car, as I usually do. And, in typical Milnes fashion, I arrived at the train-station in downtown Seattle in "plenty of time" -- only to be the last passenger boarding the train!!! As I got on the train, though, my only goal was to find a set of seats that were empty by the window so that I could study and sleep (!) during the four hour trip. And, sure enough, I had several options available that matched that description. But, the Lord had other plans. As I walked through the cabin, the Lord told me to stop, and to go and sit by a woman who I had seen sitting by herself a couple of rows back. So, I did. My initial observation of her was that she seemed to be in her early thirties with very blonde, short hair. And, she had a nervous laugh. She definitely did not seem to be a people person. After we did the usual, "hi… where are you going?" routine, I settled into my seat with my homework in hand. However, a couple of miles out of Seattle, I glanced over to see what it was that she was reading. The title of the book? "Quantum Mechanics." Hmmm. That got me interested. So, I leaned over and asked her if she was interested in Quantum Mechanics (dumb question, I know, but it got the conversation going). After her nervous laugh, she told me she had some interest in it. She then told me that she is a Professor. Of Physics.

Oh.

She works at some University in Chicago and does research on sound waves made at the bottom of the ocean’s floor off of the coast of the Atlantic. So, we talked about quantum mechanics and subatomic particles for while. This led to Chemistry, which led to Biology, which led to Calculus, which led to Newton, which led to Bulgarian and Russian (don’t ask me how), which led to symphonies, which led to linguistics, which led to Tolstoy. She then wanted to know what field of Science I was in. I smiled.

“Well…”

She couldn’t figure out the correlation between my major of English Literature and all of the science classes I’ve taken. And, to tell you the truth, most people can’t figure that out either – it makes perfect sense to me, but that’s beside the point. So, that led into talking about Bible school. That did it. We had exhausted our combined knowledge of Newton and Bulgarian. And, it was only natural that her ears pick up on the word, “Bible.” So we talked. In fact, we politely debated the existence of God.

For three and a half hours.

Here she is, a physics professor who cannot sleep at night wondering about all of the moral questions one can wonder about. Her repertoire of philosophers and their writings was astonishing. She is an agnostic. But, throughout the three and a half hours, the Holy Spirit kept prompting me with question after question, rebuttal after rebuttal. All of the dreaded “-ism” words were mentioned…

Existentialism. Deism. Moral Relativism. Empiricism. Moralism. Pluralism.

We also talked about the dead guys like Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Neitzsche. As well as a whole host of other philosophers that I can’t even begin to remember as I had never heard of them. Science was brought into the debate. Newton and Trinity College even made another appearance in the dialogue. Whenever she talked, I listened. And prayed. Hard. And, in the midst of all of the science and the "-ism's," other words were mentioned too:

Sin. Wrath. Holiness. Mercy. Grace. The Cross. The book of Romans. Christ and Him crucified.

We walked through the Old Testament and the New Testament. We walked through Romans. "All have sinned.... BUT GOD in His mercy..."

Throughout the whole three and a half hours, the entire cabin was strangely silent. I think that we had an audience in the midst of our private debate. And, you know, what amazed me was that she could have at any time ended our conversation. She is a professor of Physics doing important research. I’m a twenty-one year old undergrad student (I never did actually tell her that though, which was probably a good thing). She was far more knowledgeable in worldly philosophies than I. But, she didn’t. And, Holy Spirit was faithful.

By the end of the trip, I challenged her. I pulled a Ravi Zacharias and pointed out that no where else in all of the philosophies and religions that she had spoken of had I heard such bold and radical words as the words Jesus spoke when He said, “I am THE Way, THE TRUTH, and THE Life.” I challenged her to pray a dangerous prayer – “Lord, if You are the Truth as You say You are, reveal it to me,” and then to read the New Testament. In particular, the Gospels and the book of Romans. I challenged her to bring Jesus onto an equal playing field with all of these other philosophies and religions, and to let the Truth prevail. She humbly took the little New Testament that I offered to her. She had two more days on that train – going all the way to Chicago. Plenty of time to read. Near the end, I also told her, “I hope that you find the answers that you are looking for… if anything, so that you can sleep at night.” She looked at me quizzically and asked, “Don’t you stay up at night thinking about all of this?” I looked at her right in the eyes and said, “No. I don’t. It is finished. My soul has already been redeemed. I was bought with the greatest price at Calvary. And because of it, I not only have the ‘peace of God, but I have peace with God.’ I don’t have to worry about it. I sleep great.”

She stared at me in disbelief.

So, please, please join me in praying for this professor. She has been on my heart daily since our train ride together. May her heart be softened to the things of God. May the Truth of the Gospel shine into her heart and life. What kept coming to me throughout our conversation was, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” May she have the grace to have the faith. May the Father draw her to Himself so that she finds not only the 'peace of God,' but 'peace with God."

Which leads to another thing… how is the Church in general reaching and targeting this specific group of people – the intellectuals and skeptics? What an incredible mission field. May our hearts be enlarged as we ask Jesus for His creativity in developing ways in which to target this specific group of individuals. May His Kingdom come and His will be done on University and College campuses.