Last week I had an experience I will remember for a long time. Since it was raining outside, we took my three kids and some of their cousins to to get some of their energy out.

The place was packed full of young kids and their parents. While my kids were enjoying the trampolines, dodge ball, and the climbing wall, I found an open seat in the small caf茅 to edit some of the chapters for an update I am working on with my father for his classic book, .

A middle-aged man plopped down right next to me and asked if he could join me to rest his back. 鈥淪ure, no problem,鈥� I said. Then he noticed the book I was holding (which was ), and asked if it was an apologetics book.

After I explained that it was primarily theological, but dealt with apologetic issues as well, he simply said, 鈥淚nteresting, but I have no need for apologetics.鈥� His comment piqued my interest, and so of course I asked why he didn鈥檛 personally need apologetics.

鈥淏ecause I have seen God鈥檚 power so directly in my own life. Years ago my son was born with a genetic disorder, including a hole in his heart. The doctors said he would only live a couple weeks. Yet he stayed alive, even though the first few years of his life were incredibly tough. When he was three years old, I broke down and cried out to God for his healing. As soon as I was done praying, my soon looked up at me and said, 鈥楧on鈥檛 worry, daddy, Jesus has healed me.鈥� I took him to the doctor and he was in fact healed.鈥�

As soon as he finished telling me this story, his son walked up, now eleven years old, and said hi. Here鈥檚 the bottom line: eleven years ago when his son was born the doctors said he only had a couple weeks to live, because of serious medical complications, but now he is a normal, healthy 6th grader. The father had no doubt that God healed his son. And he also shared how the experience deeply transformed him personally and helped restore his marriage and family.

We talked about the role of apologetics and how, when sharing this story, he is actually giving a kind of apologetic for the faith, which both encourages believers and challenges non-believers to consider the claims of Christ. The Bible does call us both to witness to what we have seen and to be ready with an answer when asked.

But more importantly, do I believe this man and his story? Do you? After all, the man is a complete stranger to me, and you are reading it secondhand. How do I know he didn鈥檛 make it up? How do I know it wasn鈥檛 merely a coincidence or a misdiagnosis by the doctors?

Since I didn鈥檛 follow up and check all the details, I can鈥檛 further corroborate his story. And I fully admit that the evidence I am presenting in this blog is tentative. But I choose to believe him for four main reasons:

First, his younger daughter and wife were right there as he shared the story. Wouldn鈥檛 they correct him if he were simply making it up?

Second, as far as I could tell, he had nothing to gain from the story. He wasn鈥檛 writing a book for money or trying to get famous. In fact, he only opened up when I gently pressed him. He clearly enjoyed sharing the story, because it was so meaningful to him, but he was initially reluctant. He wasn鈥檛 looking for an audience to seemingly impress.

Third, I have heard many other stories