Last week, I volunteered to shop for school clothes with a local student. It was part of yearly project put on by one of our local organizations. Several business and community groups are always there. As a result, each kid gets $100 at JC Penny.
Believe it or not, it’s fun to meet a random jr high or high school student. They’ll teach you how to make conversation!
This year, the young man I paired with was a great shopper. By that I mean we finished in twenty minutes. That’s my kind of shopping experience–in and out.
But he had to wait for his family to pick him up. So, I waited outside with him. We talked about school and what’s he’s looking forward to this year. Then I asked him where he was from. Had he been born and raised here in Corpus Christi?
“No,” he said. “I was born in a city called Galveston.”
I stood up and looked at him with a grin on my face. “No, you weren’t!” I said. You can guess which of the two of us was more excited about his birthplace. He had only lived there the first two years of his life. He didn’t even know about being a BOI.
My guess is he wished he would’ve just said he was born in Corpus. But I shared with him how much I loved my hometown. All the stories of famous people passing through the island always intrigued me as a kid. Had he seen any of the pictures of the aftermath of the 1900 storm? I may have shown a few.
Again, I’m not sure any of that mattered to him. Meeting someone from Galveston, though, is always a special thing for me.
This encounter reminded me of part of what we do in ministry. My new Galveston friend didn’t know anything (apparently) about where he is from. If you ask me, he’s from the best place in the world.
As God’s people, our ministry is about telling people where they’re from, in a sense. God created them and there is an image of God within them they probably know nothing about. So much of faith in God is discovering what that image actually looks like. It’s a joy to discover, and it’s a joy to share.
I hope that young man will think about our little island home. And I hope more of us will know the blessing of sharing the good news with someone who doesn’t know just how much they are loved by God.
Stay blessed…john