Lessons from the Waiting Room

Guys you’ve been there. Your wife is shopping and you are…well waiting for her to stop shopping So there I was at the mall the other day waiting as my wife was trying to find a dress for a friend’s upcoming wedding. And so I sat on the couch by the waiting room for her to decide if she like what she had found on the rack. (By the way thanks for the couch Macy’s!) And instead of the usual surf the internet on my iPhone I decided to make some casual conversation with an older lady who was chillin on the couch as well.

So I did. Her name was Francis. She lived in a town in the surrounding area and she goes to a church. The same church that she has been a part of since she was 5 years old. I could pretend to guess her age but these are the quanitative statistics she threw at me when I asked about her experience there. 4 buildings, 8 or 9 preachers, and 1 pastor?! I was peaked by her particular use of vocabulary, just like someone outside the church must be when we throw out “saved” words (that one was free!) at ‘em. So I asked her Ms. Francis, “What did you mean by that, what was different about this one?”

She said, “I was going through some tough times in my life. He helped me get through them. I grew real close to him and his wife through that and I still go see them at their house.”

No powerful sermons. No incredible charisma. No awesome programming. “He helped me get through some tough times”

I’m in the production and programming world. But nothing substitutes for genuine relationship and love that comes from our Savior given to those that we have relationships with. Francis’ small testimony of how she felt just reinforced that God calls us to love Him with everything and then love others. And that no matter how flashy, heartfelt, passionate and relevant our programming is unless we are concerned with people’s lives and how we can meet their needs through the love of Christ and pointing them that way, change isn’t going to happen.