He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.

 

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

 

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer.

He tripped & fell on the ground.  He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant, the Atheist cried out: 

'Oh my God!'

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky.

'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.'  'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?'  'Am I to count you as a believer?'

The atheist looked directly into the light, and said: 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian?'

'Very well', said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

 

 

'Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.'