I think a lot about how there are millions of things happening all over the world at this very moment. And how just for once I would want to get a glimpse at all of them at once. Wow.
I think about people a lot, and how there are so many of them. A lot of names, faces, personalities, and stories. Stories about what have made them who they are.
In Iowa at a writer's workshop I went to a couple of summers ago, one of our assignments was to venture out into downtown Iowa City, where a ton people would be sitting or walking about, and ask them personal questions about moments in their life that defined who they are today.
The prospect of this assignment made me nervous, because a lot of times you think of people as being very private, not wanting to stay and talk much so they can continue about their business. I thought we would be just another obstacle in their day.
But it turned out not as I expected - my partner and I interviewed an older woman - probably in her late forties or fifties - who had just recently met her father for the first time. And the woman beside her, from the time she was a little girl, had these "psychic visions" and supernatural occurrences happen to her. I was astounded that these ladies were actually opening up to us - complete strangers!
It just goes to show that people are looking for someone to reach out to them. They want to tell you their story...they want to be loved. I think about this as I think about the students at FOS that I am trying to minister to. And for me it's a challenge because a lot of the time you have to be real with them before they will be real with you.
People want to be known. Even though often times we get afraid to let someone come to close. I think that the human condition, overall, longs for intimacy. And we as Christians know that true intimacy comes from a relationship with Christ. But for now we must show the people around us our own feeble version of it so that, perhaps, they will search for something more and find Jesus.
