I met an interesting guy the other day. The conversation was strictly business until we happened to make a connection. It turns out we both went to the same college back in New York. Of course I graduated 15 years ahead of him… OK so it was a bit more than that even.
But that’s not my point.
You might think that, seeing as how our college is oriented toward the same fairly specialized industry that we work in, we’d both run into fellow alumni fairly regularly.
Trust me, we don’t.
For one thing our school is fairly small. And Savannah is a long ways from New York City, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean. There simply aren’t very many of us in town. In fact, I only know of two at the moment, which is one more than I knew about last week.
But that’s not my point either.
It often amazes me how one little passing comment can lead to a bond with someone that you don’t get most of the time. In this case I had previously dealt with someone else at his company so I naturally asked where the other person was (answer: promoted and relocated). A little more polite conversation with a fellow Yankee in the Deep South and up pops a bond out of nowhere.
Go figure.
Gorgeous is reading a book right now called, interestingly enough, Connecting by Larry Crabb. It must be good because she’s read big chunks of it to me. According to Amazon.com, Crabb wants us to
“adopt a groundbreaking, but biblical, approach to healing the deep wounds of the soul – an approach that centers around building intimate, healing mini-communities in our lives and churches.â€
Now I’m all about healing the deep wounds of the soul and all that. But I don’t see myself as that ambitious. Maybe its just that I would feel somewhat pretentious working toward something that monumental.
But I do know that I like it when I feel connected. Our church has a strong emphasis on small groups as well as our Sunday services. It is good to build those friendships, especially for folks like us who don’t live near their families. Connecting seems to make folks feel better and enjoy life more.
I’ve assured Gorgeous that I’ll read the book when she’s done.
In the mean time I’ll just appreciate connections that I find in unexpected places.
Enjoy!