Divine Encounter

Today, good fortune and coincidence (okay, it might have even been providence) smiled on me as I lunched with two old friends. I believe our being together was much more than temporal and may have bordered on the "divine." One could feel the love in the circle from the moment we stepped into the same room... years of "water under the bridge" but seemingly in a moments time. Friends, true brothers even, were reunited together.

Our friendship goes back in excess of 20 years, while the last time the three of us were all together at the same table at the same time was no less than 12 or 13 years ago. All three of us served as similar ministers in the same lower half of a "left coast state" with two other close brothers in the Lord back in the mid to late 80's. Even back then, each of our ministries carried their own distinguishing marks but we shared one common thread... an intense love for Jesus Christ.

Mowing down a wonderful Schezwan buffet, I couldn't help but observe how life had treated us. All three of us can still "pack it away" in the food department, but what unpacked by way of conversation was how the years had taken their toll. Trials we never imagined could or would come our way were the appetizer, main course, second helping of main course (isn't it mandatory at a buffet to return for seconds?) and dessert as we unpacked the years. Had the years been good to us? That would be a matter of opinion...

Everyone is grayer on the head -- except for the one who has much less hair and his is still black as night (we think -- who can tell with "Bic" heads these days?). Plus or minus a few pounds each, we're still profiled about the same as when last together. But the real strains of life were the ones that don't necessarily show. One marriage that once existed doesn't anymore and another was stressed to the limits. One life saw pressures that gave the press something to feed on for a while. All three had health challenges they navigated, some for the first time after being healthy "forever." All shared emotional and spiritual injuries that came at the price of trying to do what God called us to do. There were stories of failure, disappointment and loss. Other relationships broken which may never be repaired.

It was a great lunch! No... really it was! Walking away from that buffet, I realized that we had shared in a feast beyond garlic chicken and crab rangoons. We had survived some of life's most harrowing events and still share the most important thing in common... we still share an intense love for Jesus Christ. "Could anything tear that away?" I wondered with curiousity as we drove away together. There is only one source I know who could hurt lives like this and so far, by the grace of God, we somehow survived his devilish schemes.

Have the years been good to us? It may be a matter of opinion, but to be with these guys again and to be reminded that we're still alive in Christ was a blessing. I'd say even the toughest times have been good to us and I'll offer that alone is a divine encounter no matter what you may think of it.