Unexpected Friends
My grandmother had a lot of ‘sayings.’ Because I spent a lot of time with her, many of them became an ongoing internal dialogue that I used to guide my actions and decisions. Sayings like, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” or “Don’t judge a book by its cover” are the most memorable. On one particular day, the latter was especially useful to me.
I was once on staff at a local church. On at least one day during the week, even though the building was open, the ministry staff was off. Because I was a ‘licensed’ minister and chaplain, if someone came in asking to talk to a pastor, the reception desk would call me to talk to them. I remember many of these conversations were rewarding not only to the person seeking support, but to me as well. It was always a passion of mine to allow God to enable me to contribute to other’s lives.
On this particular day, I was summoned because a man came in very upset and, according to the receptionist, was being very loud. After a brief conversation, I told the receptionist I would be right up. Not knowing what I would be encountering in the next minutes, I took some time to take a few deep breaths and say a quick prayer before I took the walk from my office to the lobby. Because of how the building was arranged, before I actually entered the lobby, I could peak around the corner and see who was out there. I looked and saw a rather rough, very large man sitting in one of the chairs. My first thought was that this guy, if he became upset, could push me into the floor like a thumb tack. I took a deep breath, stepped through the door and walked toward the man. He explained that he was ‘in love’ with a woman and kept messing the relationship up. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, on that day after sitting on a couch in my office weeping, this individual became a great friend. We talked often, I eventually performed his wedding (yes, to the girl he was so distressed about when I met him), he made a very timely contribution to a ministry I was involved in, and we remained friends.
The point is, we are exposed to and meet people every day, I call them the ‘souls God entrusts us with.’ Some of them look pretty scary and downright intimidating. Some are needy, some test our patience, and some just make us angry. Once you get past the ‘cover,’ you’ll often find that God placed them in your path for a reason. Sometimes it is to bless them and sometimes it’s to bless you. In the moments when we encounter the folks that challenge us most, we have a choice. If we step out in faith, we are listening to God. And it could be one of the most rewarding relationships we’ve developed. You see, God places these individuals in our path for one or more of these three reasons. First, to teach us something we haven’t learned yet. Second, to get us to do something we haven’t done yet. Third, to get us to teach something we haven’t taught yet.
My friend went on to be with God, but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t value the contribution I was able to make to his life AND the contribution he made to mine. Even though I found his demeanor intimidating, I took the leap of faith and talked to him anyway. There was a reward that I could not have seen unless I had stepped forward in faith.