"As Foreigners"

This past week The Greensboro Fellows, as well as our honorary members Elspeth Glasgow and Chris and Jessie Meriwether, traveled to Baltimore Maryland. I have been looking forward to this trip since before I joined the program because we were going to see Ravi Zacharias.  Ravi (we are on a first-name basis...check the picture), is a Christian speaker I have queued up on my podcast app quite regularly.  However, my big take away from the trip was not anything Ravi said, but the opportunities seized in transit.

Our taste of nomadic lifestyle had me resonating with a biblical verse in a new way. 1 Peter 2:11a: "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners..."  By design we are not meant to be stagnant in any sense of the word.  I think it is easy in the hustle and bustle of routine to hinder God's "little" blessings, or at least not notice them.  This adventure to Maryland was not weighed down with such monotony. We made memories with former strangers, had opportunities to pray for previously unknown siblings in the kingdom and had doors open by opening doors with no expectation of repayment.  All these beautiful interactions happened in transition as we were making our way to another location. If we would have been consumed about reaching our destination with efficiency as the highest priority, I would say this trip would have been one big missed opportunity after the next.  In such an isolated incident as a road trip, it could be enticing to believe this type of intentionality is not intended to be a daily practice.  In fact, I believe it would be advantageous to our faith if we, as a body of believers, made it habitual to be more concerned with people than our agendas.

I’ll end with just one story of how this willingness to communicate rather than being blinded with the need to do what’s next played out in Baltimore on John Hopkins’ campus.  Before I do, I want to acknowledge I was pretty vague in my description of blessings we encountered, but it was purposeful.  I do not want to box in what this perspective change will bring you, or even worse, the belief you are entitled to a like experience when you encounter a masterpiece of God's you have not met before. With that said, it's good to share small ways you have been encouraged.

We were rushing to the building where Ravi was speaking, and a woman asked if we were heading that way and if she could follow us.  Waving her and her two companions on, we continued forward as a group.  Fighting the urge to rush to the front of the group to get to the building a split second sooner than the others, I started talking to the most recent members of our entourage.  It turns out that they work for Ravi and two of them were going to be on stage with him to address the Q&A portion of the talk.  Ruth, the woman who first inquired about our destination, handed Andrew and me a business card, telling us to contact her and she will try to send us a book or something.  To be clear, this is not a “treat everyone nice because there is a chance they are a connection to someone famous” plea. The other somewhat similar stories I alluded to on the trip involved average Joes in the world’s eyes, but we got a glimpse into the masterpiece God has for them through our interaction.  This is encouragement to be a people that truly believe we have the same Father and big brother in Christ, and to value all others in light of this knowledge.

Thanks for sharing some of your special moments with us, Kevin!

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