Jim.

It’s been the perfect day. You know those days… relaxing. Filled with peace. My day started with brunch with a best friend, a good run in the perfect September weather, and now finishing up some school work at the Starbucks that my wallet has come to dread. I’m cozied up in a nook with a pumpkin spice latte (they’re back!), and there is a sweet man across from me.

He’s probably 70. A dark, black man with light, white hair. Thick glasses frame his sad eyes, and his hands shake as he pokes at the laptop in front of him. As I’m reading some page of my book for the third time because I can’t focus, I look up to see him speaking to me. I take out my headphones, and just begin to listen.

His name is Jim. It was James, and some people call him Jimmy. But his favorite is Jim. He asks me what I’m studying and then goes into a long rant about his past in Raleigh, Japan, and Norway. As he finishes speaking, he looks at me with his sweet, sad eyes. There is insecurity in them as he says, “well, I will let you get back to work…” It was my perfect chance. He opened the door for me to smile and carry on with my reading. And I must say, it was a tempting opportunity. But something in me knew he needed me more than my computer screen. As I look at his naked, left hand I wonder if he has lost a wife or if he ever had a wife at all. I decline his offer and we spend the next 20 minutes talking about N.C State, Christmas, and how he wants to be cremated instead of buried.

As we spoke, I asked the Lord what He wanted from this conversation. Should I share Jesus with him? Ask to pray for him? Give him a scripture? I didn’t share the gospel with him. I didn’t do anything. I just…was. I was a human BEing rather than a do-er. Not that sharing anything with him would have been wrong; in fact, I know the Lord would have moved through that decision. But it was nice to just enjoy him. Jim.

How often do I brush people aside? I know that there are times when we legitimately don’t have time to talk with others and offer 30 minutes of our time. But, more often than not, we do. When I’m Jim’s age I want to look back on my life and see people. I don’t want to see money, careers, cars, or even places of travel. I want to see Jim’s face…the little girl I nannyed last summer…I want to see souls that have been touched. Touched by the Lord, or touched by Jesus’ love flowing through me. There is a peace we find in Him that the world needs.

All of us can play it cool. We can hide behind our busy schedules, our busy lives, and our organizations. But at the end of the day, we are all in need. We are “emotional vacuums (as my pastor, Colby Lehmann says),” that need love, acceptance, and relationship, and you’re terribly wrong if you think you’re an exception to this. Only God can fill the fullness of this void in each person, but since God lives in my heart, I can spread His love to a world around me that needs it. Maybe not to a thousand people at once, but just to someone every once in a while. And today, that person was Jim. I’m thankful for his interest in my life. For his advice about visiting Norway. And for his thick, black rim glasses that make me feel more at home as I wear glasses myself.

John 13:34-35

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."