It was the cleanest gas station bathroom I've seen. When I opened the door, the smell of bleach hit me.

The mirror was sparkling and the tile had been scrubbed.

I was impressed. I've been in spotless bathrooms at places like the Broadmoor Resort - but a Seven Eleven? Never.

But I wasn't surprised. I had been impressed from the time I entered the building.

The worker behind the counter was an old man - probably in his seventies. The best word I know to describe him is "kind" - something about his eyes and how he talked to me.

The pumps were pre-pay and I wanted to fill my tank. Their policy was that I had to "guess" how much gas my tank would need. Pretty dumb.

But as the guy explained the policy, he almost acted like a doctor giving news of a terminal disease. It was like he was saying, "I'm really sorry - but your going to have to make your best guess and then make the long walk back to your car. And by the way, you have one month to live."

The guy was concerned about a minor inconvenience and somehow made me feel it. Uncommon.

So, I'm in the bathroom and imagine this same guy scrubbing the place down. (I don't know he was the one, but I suspect it.)

Maybe it was four in the morning. I could see him in there wiping down the glass, scrubbing the sink, and mopping the floor during a time few people entered the store.

And he was alone.

It struck me the guy was lonely.

Was he?

Was that God?

My imagination?

Either way, I couldn't shake the thought I should talk with him.

But, as I'm prone to do - I chickened out.

As I walked toward the exit, he said, "Thanks for your patience."

I said, "No problem at all" and then threw in a "may the Lord Jesus bless you today" for good measure.

I think he responded, "Oh ... yeah, you too."

As I started up the car and put on my seat belt he came running out of the store - moving faster than I thought he should be. He was waving his arms.

I rolled down my window and he pointed behind me.

"You left your gas cap off."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

He smiled and turned to go back inside.

I sighed.

"Babe," (My wife was in the car) "I gotta go talk to that guy."

So I went back in the store.

There was only one person in the store and he was on the opposite side. I was thankful for that.

I extended a hand, which the old man shook.

"I know this might seem awkward, but I'm a Christian, and sometimes when I meet certain people I feel like God is all over them."

He wore a hesitant smile.

"Uh huh."

"Anyway, I felt like that with you and was wondering if you could use prayer for anything."

We had a brief, but meaningful, conversation. The other customer soon moved in behind me and waited - listening.

The guy was a believer, active in church, but could use prayer for something he didn't designate.

By the end of the conversation the man had tears in his eyes as he reached for the other customer's items.

I'm not sure what was going on exactly - but I was thankful I went back.

And here's my point:

It seems like often, if I am at all "people aware" that someone will stand out - someone I should approach - show kindness - offer prayer - talk to.

I have to be honest. MOST of the time I walk on past, hoping to get away. But many times when I do that, God says, "go back." If I ignore Him, He'll repeat.

"Go back."

When I obey, it always turns out good. Always.

And I can still remember, with pain, the times I refused and kept going.

My advice is, notice people. And when God says, "go back," pay attention.

He wants to invade people's lives and you are how He works. If you walked on by, go back.

I remember as a child sitting next to my Grandma-Anna Maria Olinda Hussmann (formerly Reinkensmeyer.) She was eating split pea soup. I was four and fascinated by the lines in her hands.

"Grandma, why do you have so many lines on your hands?"

She touched my hair. "Well, honey, those are blood veins and the older I get, the more they show up."

"Blood veins? I thought blood was red. Why are they blue?"

"Blood is red when it's outside the body. Inside sometimes it's blue."

"Why is it blue?"

"Well ... it's blue until it touches oxygen. Then it turns red."

"Why?"

"It's how blood reacts to oxygen."

"But why?"

"Why don't you go in the other room and play with your cousins, sweetie?"

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We've all seen it. Kids can ask "why, why, why" till their faces turn blue.

Parents find themselves responding:

"Go look it up."

"Ask your mom."

Or, "because I said so."

A long line of "whys" illustrates a principle philosophers call an "infinite regress."

Skip this paragraph and move to the next if it's too much, but here's the definition of an infinite regress: An infinite regress in a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P1 requires the support of proposition P2, the truth of proposition P2 requires the support of proposition P3, ... , and the truth of proposition Pn-1 requires the support of proposition Pn and n approaches infinity.

Basically, when we ask "why" we look for a cause, and each cause needs further explanation.

"Why is the moon so bright if it provides no light?"

Be-CAUSE the light of the sun is reflected off the moon.

But, for every explanation, another question arises.

"Why does the sun provide light?"

Be-CAUSE the chemical reactions taking place emit radiation in wavelengths that can be perceived by the human eye.

"Why does the eye perceive those wavelengths?" or "Why do the chemicals react that way?"

And so on.

In a world of cause and effect (the foundational concept of science) every good solid answer brings up another "why."

And here's where God shows up.

The infinite regress cannot be actually infinite because an actual infinite is just a concept, not something real. Actual infinites don't exist.

William Lane Craig argues this with the following example:

Let's say, for kicks, that Jupiter revolves around the sun at half the speed of Saturn. Let's pretend a thousand years from now Saturn has completed 1000 circuits. How many has Jupiter completed? That's right-500.

In 10,000 years it's 10,000 for Saturn, 5,000 for Jupiter. In a hundred thousand ... you get the picture.

But what if we extend time into infinity. Then, all of a sudden Saturn has rotated an infinite amount of times. Right? Now, what about Jupiter? How many times has it revolved? Half of infinity? Infinity?

An actual infinite is impossible and there are many, many more examples that justify this belief.

What does this mean about God.

As I've mentioned before - the Universe (time, space, and matter) had a beginning. That's a pretty universally accepted truth in scientific circles today-and happens to be exactly what theists have been saying, well, from the beginning. And the CAUSE had to be outside of time, space, and matter. And because most atheists understand this truth, recent explanations (causes) have been theorized such as multi-verse theories, string theories, etc....

But even if true (though speculative now) they do nothing to explain the uncaused cause.

I know of no way to get around the philosophical truth that there MUST BE AT LEAST ONE UNCAUSED CAUSE.

If we ask why long enough, we always, always, always arrive at a determinate point in the past (though "past" may mean something different) where the answer really is, "IT just is." There's no escaping IT and I believe, on intellectual grounds, no denying IT.

The question then becomes, "What is IT?" Therein lies one of the greatest battlegrounds between atheists and theists. Theists say God. Atheists say matter.

But we've already established, matter had a beginning.

Couple that with other areas of thought including special revelation verified through history and archaeology, DNA studies, philosophy of morality, and a hundred other disciplines and I believe the answer is clear.

IT = God, a personal intellect that is omnipotent, moral, and personal.

But even if your agnostic and atheist friends don't arrive at the same conclusion, it's still a great discussion question:

"There has to be at least one uncaused cause. What is it?"

An atheist MUST say either, "I don't know" or "matter." But current science tells us matter is not a good option.

Theism offers the only good answer to the question "why?"

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For more reading on this and similar topics GO HERE.

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Also, if you haven't done so yet, please consider purchasing the Kindle version of my new book Letters From a Martyred Christian HERE. When you're done reading it, please post a review.