A friend of mine won’t be with me when I attend our Sunday service tomorrow. It’s not that he doesn’t have a spiritual hunger, it’s just that he’ll be ‘enjoying community’ with a bunch of other cyclists on his regular Sunday morning ride. This morning we sat around at a coffee shop and chatted for quite some time, and it was him that started a conversation about the Bible.
I’ve been riding with him and a bunch of other cyclists every Saturday morning for a few years now. We ride about 40 km and then sit around eating choc-chip muffins and raisin toast as we sip long blacks, flat whites and cappucinos. I’m one of only two Christians in the group. Everyone knows what I’m about but I’m still just one of the guys. I love being with this bunch. There is a natural friendship among the participants. There is an openess with each other. There is a real bond that most churches would do well to take onboard.
This friend has a few ideas about the Bible. He can see stuff that it talks about starting to happen in our world. He thinks that Mormons talk a lot of rubbish. He has a friend that ‘reads the Bible a lot.’ He is a unique kind of guy and while I’m praying that he’ll meet Jesus, I’d hate to see him forced into someone else’s idea of what a Christian should be.
I hope you’ll pray for me as I continue to build friendships within this group. I don’t want to build friendships so that I can peddle (excuse the pun) my message. I want to build friendships because these are good people that I want to know better and I want to introduce them to Jesus.
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