His Friends: Walking Together

I had just asked him to tell me the story of his commitment to Jesus. He answered by telling me about a long chain of discipleship, naming each person in the sequence. As he talked, I finished nearly half of my Cuban sandwich. As I took another bite, I asked him, "What's the secret? How does the chain keep going?" He laughed and said, "It's friends following Jesus. It's what you're doing. Just one person asking another person to get together and discuss the Bible. Once you get established in your faith, you go and ask someone else to read the Bible with you."

“You want to be like a cat on a screen door.” I looked blankly at my mentor. I tried to imagine a cat hanging for its life on a screen door. It seemed uncomfortable. He saw that he had my attention. Then he explained, “Every time they open the front door, they'll see you waiting for them. That’s how intentional you want to be in showing up for the people who matter to you.”

A guy once told me about the time he was arrested for drunk driving. When they put him into the jail cell, he came face-to-face with an old friend who had joined a gang. Prior to that point, he thought he was on a better track in life. That encounter forced him to look at his actions and come to terms with the reckless way he was living.

Two days after the second meeting of the Bible study I had proudly nicknamed "Awesome Group," a couple got in touch to explain why they felt shut out. They pointed out that since I'd taught the Bible for most of the meetings, they'd never learned the names of everyone else in the room, much less any of their stories. I had acted as if using my gift was the most important way we could spend time together.

As the House of Lords fiercely debated whether or not it was appropriate to investigate British slavery in the Caribbean, the slaveholding Lord Holland argued in favor. He assured his fellow politicians that the West Indian slaveholders "could not outdo the saints in... their propensity to lie." So the inquiry went ahead, stacked by slave-owners, who hoped to officially declare that slavery was humane. By calling William Wilberforce and his abolitionist friends "the saints", the powerful politicians of their day sought to characterize them as religious fanatics who wanted to destroy their own country's economy.