As a...I won’t say young person because I am not young...not old person attending church, it is very common to be asked why I am doing that, sicne it’s not exactly common to do. We live in a fairly unreligious country, in a partiuclarly unreligious state. They ask you how you came to church, what that process was like. Everyone’s stories are diffeent, but there are many similarities. 

At coffee hour after church today I was having a conversation with a group of fairly recent converts and I explained that much of my conversion came in the form of arguing by proxy for Jack, who converted before I did. 

Many of our friends in common, and virtually all of my family found his conversion distressing and strange, they could not understand it. They knew I knew Jack better than them, and that I love him so they asked me my thoughts on his conversion.
 
Not a convert at the time I had to struggle through many half-baked, somewhat speculative conversations where I attempted to answers questions I did not really know how to even think about. Slowly I became more and more capable of making points that showed that Jack was not insane, and was actually, maybe, potentially, probably on to something. 

I’m not sure if I ever convinced anyone of anything, but I apparently convined myself somewhere in the process. 

I thought that was interesting. 
There’s something almost embarassing, and definitely difficult about putting yourself out there emotionally, spiritually, and morally the way that conversion requires. Arguing for and defending yourself, as I now have to do with some frequency, is a lot harder tahn making those arguments with a nice big fat “Well, this is only speculation, if I were a believer I suppose the argument goes something like this...” in front.

So thanks again Jack,
you big weirdo. 
Sorry for making your mom yell at you. 
She would have heard about it eventually.
:3