journey onWord with us

On a recent business trip, I had the opportunity to sit next a fellow believer who just happened to live in the same southern city as my daughter and son-in-law. During our conversation, He shared that his daughter was in the process of planning a wedding. When I began telling him that my daughter had just recently been married there, he came to life! He immediately began asking about the church, the reception venue and all the associated details. What an amazing God-authored moment it turned out to be as this fellow traveler continued on to share that it happened to be the very weekend they were beginning to search for the venue for the reception and would certainly be looking into the one we had used.

As I talked, he took notes and made plans to contact his daughter when we landed in Montréal. Why was he so interested in all of the details of my daughter’s wedding? And why did he seem to implicitly trust what I was telling him? I believe it was because I had been down a road he was about to travel. It also seemed that being a fellow Christ-follower meant the information I was sharing with him (that he would use in beginning his own daughter’s wedding journey) was trustworthy. We both realized and acknowledged that our seat choices (he was normally in first class) were no happenstance. It was the divine hand of a loving God leading two of his children into a space where they could share information and encourage each other.  May I (and we) always obey the truth and challenge of Scripture in our God-authored opportunities.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up
1 Thessalonians 5:11a (NIV)

But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.
Hebrews 3:13 (HCSB)

 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching
Hebrews 10:24 (NIV)

Our lives should reflect Christ’s love.  Our temperaments should be friendly and welcoming, seeking to attract the lost and encourage fellow Christ-followers. Look for opportunities to encourage each other today.