Meeting People

Kat and I found ourselves at Cracker Barrel with my folks after church this evening. I am blessed with a woman that has insight that others don't have. Her mom has it too. Her dad (Richard) and I have talked about it. It's nothing less than a spiritual gift. Which is interesting, because that's something that really get's me irritated. All this talk about spiritual gifts is getting out of hand. Paul said, "I don't want you to be ignorant," (1 Cor. 12:1). He didn't say, "I want you to take surveys to find out what your gift is specifically and then go after that." Some folks are prone to limiting what they think they can do in the power of God because they don't think that it's their spiritual gift. I also don't think a survey is going to tell you what your spiritual gifts are. I don't even think it's something that needs to be addressed. If you look at the passage in context, Paul is talking about unity in the church, not your abilities given to you when Jesus saves you. He goes on to talk about "many parts" and "one body." Even in that very passage, he doesn't begin his list of spiritual gifts until he tells us that "there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." In other words, just because you're a janitor and your brother is a rock star doesn't make you any less important in God's eyes. Nor should it in the church's eyes. But instead, people get bent out of shape. I won't deny that there are spiritual gifts. I believe that my ability on guitar is a spiritual gift, because of the time it began. I believe that my fiancee's insight is a spiritual gift, because it's beyond what most folks have. I believe that what our gifts are is not the issue though. It absolutely infuriates me when I hear the words "That's not my spiritual gift." Even in jest, it irritates me. I believe that God will give us the power to do what He wants us to do, regardless of what our survey said (reminds me of Family Feud). Anyways, I digress-

Kat and I were at a restaurant, and our waitress came up and had cuts on her wrist. About ten of them, in adjacent straight lines. Kat immediately picked up on that, and on the fact that the woman was lonely. She stood at our table simply to find someone to talk to, especially after she found us asking about her wrist. She didn't want to talk about that though. We found out a little more about her and invited her to New City Cafe on Thursday nights. It was a little less conspicuous than inviting her to church. Kat had the presence of mind enough to know that if we did that, the woman would know that we knew what she had done to herself. And I don't think that would have been exactly a turn-on for her going somewhere with us. I'm glad Katrina picks up on these things. I'm also glad God put us there in that place. I guess the post should have been titled "Meeting a Person" but I'm from the south, where grammar don't count for much. So meet people. Eat popsicles. Ride the occasional Ferris Wheel. Who was Ferris anyway? Did he invent the wheel?