Encouragement from Unexpected Sources

I've joined a research lab at Tufts looking into non-linear optics. Presently I'm working with a couple friends trying to blast tiny (micrometer) holes in silk with a really fast (femtosecond pulsed) laser. We started actually shooting the silk with photons last Tuesday, and I can't tell you how glad I am to finally be working on something that isn't hardware interfacing. But that's not the point of this post. (If you're interested in the micromachining research then look here for a good understandable explanation of the sort of thing we're researching.)

Thursday morning we met up for round two of silk trials, but before Brian arrived Hannah and I were talking. Somehow it came up that I had moved here with friends. She asked why, and so I was able to tell her that we are a group of Christians who wanted to move to a world class city together to live out the teachings of Christ: learning and training how to love people, community involvement, and basically declaring that the kingdom of the heavens is here and available. As far as I've been able to deduce no one in my lab is a Christian, but nonetheless she was extremely encouraging and perhaps excited about what we're up here to do. When Brian arrived she even started telling him about why I was here and he likewise thought it was neat.

It was such an encouragement to hear that from people I know and like who don't necessarily share my beliefs. It got me to thinking about what I had read earlier that morning:

We are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
--Paul describing how Christians are perceived in the world (2 Cor. 2:15-16)

If those who aren't Christians respond favorably to such news then perhaps they better fit into the category of those who are "being saved" than that of those who are perishing. Prechristians if you will.

I know I found the realization encouraging.