Invest and Invite

Today my office lunched with a former co-worker and great friend. Mandy was hired as a contract programmer in our office just before I was hired 15 years ago. She was a part of our staff until 7 years ago when she married and moved to Seattle. Mandy became a good friend to both me and my wife. We'd often go to dinner with her on the weekend. She'd have us over and we'd return the invitation. She was from South Africa. Her English accent captivated us. She became part of our lives. Though she lives clear across the country we manage to keep in contact.

Last weekend Lori and were on our usual Saturday morning grocery shopping venture. We turned the corner to start down another aisle and to my surprise, there in the mail aisle was a friend from high school that I hadnt seen since we'd graduated. I called out...Holly? She stopped, turned around and looked at me and said "oh my gosh!" Holly and I grew up on the same neighborhood on the same block from kindergarten to our senior year. I bet we stood there in Wal-Mart and caught up for 30 minutes while her mother and my wife patiently stood by. We exchanged our email addresses and promised that we'd make an effort to keep in touch.

Some of you know how dedicated I am to my time at Panera Bread every morning and reading my Bible, a book and journaling. When you frequent a place so often you become like a fixture. Faces become familiar and 'good mornings' have the potential to develop into great conversations and friendships. When Greg first started coming into Panera he sat at a square table and read what ever book it was that he was reading. Sally always came in and sat on one of the cushy leather sofas and read her morning South Bend Trib. I, of course was at the round table by the window between the two. "Its going to be a great day" or "isn't it really cold today" soon was added to the good morning greetings we gave each other. Before you knew it, Greg had moved to one of the cushy leather chairs and the three of us were solving the worlds problems. Sally loved music and the arts and I'd often bring in one of GCC post cards and talk about the things that would be happening in the upcoming weeks. Then GCC started posting some of the song specials on the website so I'd bring my laptop in so I could share them. Funny thing is we never ran into each other anywhere but Panera. We didnt always have deep conversations, some days we hardly spoke at all but I believe friendships formed.

Last weekend was our first weekend in a series called "Click" at GCC. The message topic was invest and invite. Mark spoke about how we need to invest in people and get to know them where they're at in life. The service included an awesome drama of four people who where at different places in their lives and how their friends invested in them where the were at in life and eventually invited them to GCC. All noted how accepted and cared for they felt when they finally decided to come. We exemplify Christ when we demonstrate genuine concern for the people we're in contact with on a daily basis.

I have some truely awesome friends. Some know Christ and some, well know who He is. But I do know that I want my 'peeps' to know they matter and I want to be intentional in causing them to see that.