Connecting...

I am sitting at Panera working on our website with my cup of coffee quickly losing heat. Headphones pumping away I distract myself visually with the people around me. I just watched two brides-to-be come into view as a playful infant with enormous blue eyes is taken from my side. From across the table we were previously engaged in a stranger’s game of “peek-a-boo” so obvious that his grandmother jokingly remarked “I’ll bet you are glad we are leaving…” as the family walked out. The first bride-elect was more obvious coming in for lunch after her hair appointment (the veil gave her away) and before her wedding. The second bride-elect is a little more discreet to her surroundings, known only to the mentor she is meeting for lunch and to me…

Latreia has a funny way of opening people up. When “doing” mission work I have found myself willing to open up to people. I remain open of myself as well as remain open to what they have to offer. It is a funny sort of reactionary state of mind that is quite freeing to experience. After Latreia I find myself opening now and then in the same way trusting in others to accept what I might bring to them. With the Youth Encounter conferences we all (students and fellow presenters alike) had the opportunity to open up about our passions as others opened up with theirs. A group from Wartburg invited me to advise their trip to Savannah, GA (http://www.latreia.org/georgia2.php) where I had the chance for some great conversations with incredible individuals. I particularly connected with one of the trip members on so many levels… like a long lost brother.

When I say “Latreia has a funny way of opening people…” I mean to use the literal translation (Romans 12:1 “worship”) as well as the company (Latreia, Inc.). Worshiping the Lord in our daily activities invites us to remain open to others and see them in the way God sees them. It builds a foundation of common understanding and perspective. Seeing people the way God sees them also allows us to see differences and look beyond them… a different and introspective-fun level of connection. Savannah opened me to teammates not only like but different from myself; “lost brothers” that I could connect with more than the fact that our lives parallel to the fact that we are both children of God – believers or not – looking for connection and understanding.

I am getting married in July. The second bride-to-be was my very own fiancé. Our engagement and our process of discovering “relationship” has broadened my view on trusting in others - connecting with others. I never really cared for Paul’s analogy in Ephesians [5] of the church as a bride to her husband in Christ. I am beginning to understand, now. Connecting with people in Savannah, with the toddler next to me in whom I saw my niece and nephew, with the students and staff at Youth Encounter, with the bride-in-veil and with my very own bride-to-be who now sits with me, finished with her meeting. There is freedom in opening up and remaining open… for some (me) it requires a leap of faith in both small and great ways. Christ accepts us if we bring to him what we have to offer… if we trust in him and ask him to connect. The connection is worth the leap.