Sunday, February 5, 2012

Strangers are Friends



This morning I'm preparing for a technology conference sitting in a local coffee shop.  My daughter (age 10) is with me working on some homework.  It's a Sunday morning.

It's a Sunday morning and I'm not in church.  I think none of SGF's home churches are connecting hearts together this morning, though some of those folks will gather later today for Super Bowl celebrations.  Honestly I don't know what SGFers are doing with their Sunday mornings today, and I wish I did, just so I could celebrate the way we use our Prime Time.  We're a church that deliberately keeps Sunday mornings open for relationship-building.  It's a Sunday morning, and nobody else in the coffee shop is in church, either.  That's okay with me.

Anna and I bought a vanilla drink to share and asked what the most popular drink would be this morning.  She said the "Dirty Hippie," which is a chai with a shot of espresso, and we paid for "the next person who walks in and wants a Dirty Hippie," tipped well, and went and sat down.  We came here this morning on purpose.  We have a sign on the end of our table that says "Strangers are just friends we haven't met yet.  Care to sit and talk?" 

We're being intentional.  We don't want to force ourselves on anyone, but we want to be available if someone wants to talk.  Bringing people to the table isn't our job, but being available is!

3 comments:

  1. I'm so excited that your intentionality got the better of you on this experiment! Did you have any takers?

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  2. We talked with the young mom studying for her COCC Chemistry class and prayed for clarity and favor. Then I saw someone I knew and we talked for 45 minutes about a hardship in their life and asked God's grace in that situation, too.

    Nobody took me up on the sign, but because I was there intentionally, I had different eyes. It was a pleasure, and I hope to make it a practice!

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  3. Hollie just mentioned to me in person that I want to write down . . . and later (hopefully) put into practice.

    She knows someone who put up this sign "I will buy your coffee if you'll tell me the story of your spiritual journey." This resulted in many conversations that matter. I'm hungry for those.

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Thanks for commenting! ~Pastor Tim