Deanna gets reacquainted with her friend Linda


Deanna and I had dinner out for our anniversary. We used to eat out more often than we should. In tightening our belts a bit on that front, we have found ourselves for some reason, viewing our servers as ministry opportunities.

That is not a bad thing, but it is also not something we used to do, routinely.

Perhaps it is too soon to say we do it routinely now, the point is, that I find we are paying a bit closer attention to our servers. They have asked more personal questions of us or we have of them for various reasons.

The bottom line is that we end up talking to our servers more than we used to.

A few weeks ago, we were eating with friends, and Deanna was reminded by our waiter of our son in some way. He was friendly and mannerly, and she appreciated that a great deal. We often don't see manners extended by others in this day.

As we left, she gave him a book, as she had told him our story in brief. He gave her a hug and we left. Our fervent prayer is that he reads it, and sees the clarity of the Gospel shared in BJ's own words.

Our anniversary dinner was completely different.

Deanna told the young woman that we were having our anniversary dinner. She immediately responded that it was also her anniversary with her boyfriend and then relayed a story of how they came to realize when their anniversary was. It included their good friends who happened to also share the date as their wedding anniversary. She asked us how long we had been married. We told her 26 years, to which she was surprised.

Later she returned and asked if we had any secrets.

I admit, when she asked, I was taken off guard. My mind had moved a million miles from our previous conversation with her. I was no longer in the same zip code with her thoughts.

My initial reaction was to why she would be asking us to tell her secrets...we didn't know her at all. Ridiculous, I know.

Anyway, we began by telling her that humor and communication were extremely important, which caused her to spontaneously, laugh and squat to our table side so that her face came into the dim light shining from above.

Next we told her that our relationship with the Lord was the primary thing that has allowed us to endure the difficulties of life. Again, we shared our story in brief, to which she was disarmed and did not know quite how to respond.

When she collected herself, she began to ask probative questions about our experience.

Ultimately, we left her too, with a book.

There were no signs of recognition or true understanding of a relationship with Christ from her. As we handed her our journey, we believed we were putting 'hope'
in her hands.

There are so many ways that we can make our experience with Christ pertinent to the lives of others. We need to be a bit creative, at times. Not with the Gospel itself, but in the road we travel to get to that point.

We praise God for our marriage, for our girls, for our son and for how the Lord continues to bring us opportunities to speak into the lives of those who need Him.


brent