I was standing in my front yard when I saw Ben* walking down the road in front of my house. It struck me as odd because he lives a ways down the road.

I didn't know him very well. He goes to the local high school, and I'm homeschooled. So our paths hardly ever crossed. But when I saw him that day, I felt like God was pushing me to give him a ride home.

"Hey Ben," I shouted. "Wanna ride?" At first, he looked unsure about accepting. But then he said slowly, "Sure, thanks."

As we pulled out of my driveway, he asked, "Why are you being so nice?"

I told him I wouldn't want to walk that far and thought he might need a ride.

It seemed to satisfy his curiosity. After some small talk about part-time jobs, I got up the courage to invite him to my youth group. He kind of stared at the floor and said, "I guess I'll give it a try. After all, you gave me a ride. I guess

I sort of owe ya one." I told him I'd pick him up on Wednesday night.

That's how I got Ben to attend my youth group. But it was something about our conversations in the car that built our friendship and allowed me to share Christ. Not every conversation to and from church was about God. Sometimes we talked about how we both liked dirt bikes or which songs we'd learned to play on the guitar. Stuff about recent movies or music sometimes opened up doors to talk about life and faith, and what we both thought was important. Since neither of us are great conversationalists, talking to Ben wasn't always easy. There were times of awkward silence, when neither of us knew quite what to say. But eventually, one of us would break the ice and the conversation would get going again.

Before long, Ben started hanging around my house. He's one of those quiet guys who seems to just observe and take note of what's around him. And I could tell he was carefully watching as I talked to my parents and joked around with my brothers and sister. He also seemed to be paying attention when I was around the other kids at youth group. While I wanted him to know I'm a normal guy, I also wanted him to see Christ in me by the way I acted around others. And I knew he was watching.

For a few weeks everything seemed to be going well, but then he started to find reasons to not come to youth group. "Sorry, Josh," he'd say, "but

I just have too much homework." Excuses like that. Although I can't be totally sure, I think it probably had something to do with some bad experiences he'd had in the past with other Christians. Because of some of the stuff he told me, I knew those experiences had turned him off to church and God. Still, I refused to give up on him. I kept calling and even stopped by his house to visit. Eventually he ran out of excuses and started coming with me again. I think he came back because of the friends he had made at youth group and because I took a genuine interest in his life.

Ben hasn't committed his life to Christ yet, but he's been more and more open when we've talked about Jesus. He's also been asking some pretty deep questions about God and the Bible.

As nervous as I was at the time, I'm thankful God led me to give a lonely guy a ride home. I'm also grateful for the friendship I've been able to build with Ben. Maybe someday our conversations in the car will lead him to ask how he could have a personal relationship with Jesus. That would be the best conversation ever.

Josh, a junior, received evangelism training from Dare 2 Share, an organization dedicated to helping Christian students witness to their friends. Learn more about Dare 2 Share at dare2share.org.

Read more from 'How I Share Christ'

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