Connections made

This weekend I had an incredible experience. It is hard to explain because it was just one of those times when everything in my life just molded together to all make sense as a whole. It all started when I was sitting in my old Starbucks reading and I kept feeling like I should talk to the guy next to me. I recognized him as one of the regulars that was around when I worked there, but I didn't think he recognized me. He had already said a little bit to me when I first sat down and he had mentioned his wife right away, so I felt like he wasn't going to be some creepy psycho with bad intentions or anything!

I started talking to him and we ended up talking for 2 hours! He told me all about his 15 year old daughter's cocaine addiction. He talked about various rehab experiences she's had, how it has affected their family, the various stories of all her friends, etc. etc. It was so amazing. The awesome part was that I just made the decision to simply listen to whatever he wanted to talk about and to devote all of my attention to him (you have no idea how difficult this is for me to do).

I am always amazed at the results that come from doing nothing more than active listening and really getting your heart and mind involved in someone's story. I mean, here I am in Starbucks with a grown man tearing up in front of me telling me about his weaknesses, vulnerabilties, and challenges. Just because I decided to listen. Not to talk, not to teach, not to preach. Just to listen, to get involved in his life, and to love. God is love right? This experience just reminded me of some things I once knew. Sometimes it is OK for Christians to just love people. We don't always need alterior motives. We don't always have to be looking for that one pause in the conversation to spring the 4 Laws on them. We can just love for the sake of loving. For the sake of representing Christ to someone. The results of that on our world are astounding. (So apparently, NOW is my time for preaching- that's what blogs are for I guess!).

It's hard to explain the significance this event had on me because there are so many tiny little details that happened through this conversation and so many connections that were made in my head about my own life. Things I've been thinking about and considering sort of joined together to make me see them in a new light. Things I've just recently been getting passionate about (mainly teenagers and also abuse recovery work) were highlighted. No new revelations actually came to me, it just kind of made me know that God is working and he has something ahead for me. I haven't felt like God has coordinated events in my life in such a detailed and specific way like that in a long time, so it made me really excited. Plus it made me remember how much I thrive on meeting new people and getting into their lives like that (which makes me even more excited about Apartement Life). I usually feel too tired to ask questions or too busy to spend the time. Now I know what I'm missing out on . This rejuvenated me and reminded me of the kind of person I used to be and the kind of person I want to be.