Random Encounters
This morning I decided to go into work a little later.
Went up to the coffee shop 30 minutes north of work, instead… reading a book for a book club i’m trying to decide if i want to join.
Met a couple of people outside the coffee shop– we were all waiting for them to open. I love the community the shop is located in, because it’s an area where i run into few Christians. Not that i spend time avoiding Christians… but because i love talking to strangers from different walks of life. The particular area this coffee shop is located is a highly gay community, and people often have had bitter experiences with believers. I like to go there, listen to their stories, and process with them. And help them understand Jesus a little more than they did before we started talking.
Today though… today these two guys I met happened to be pretty open to talking. We’d made a little small talk outside, but when we came in, I thought the conversation would be over. Then the one guy says his wife is in Kenya for three weeks. Considering the length of the trip and the fact that I haven’t run into too many people who travel quite so much who aren’t tied to some sort of faith, I asked a few questions and eventually discovered the two guys I’d been talking with actually went to the same university I did.
I’ve typically really tried to distance myself from my educational institution, given having run into too many people who are so close-minded there and walk around (particularly in communities like the gay one in which I find myself this morning) judgmentally glaring and trying to “convert” people to “straightness and God.” It’s been kind of ridiculous.
This morning though… it’s been good.
Chill.
Like-minded people.
God’s teaching me to have grace with other believers… something I’ve lacked for a while. Grace for non-believers? Sure! But for people who claim to follow God? Hard time. Curious, since grace so embodies the God that I, too, claim to serve.
It’s been a journey… but so good.
