Make A Friend Today

I have always told my kids every morning when they get dropped off or leave the house, "I love you, be good, and work hard". If there are things I want them to know everyday it are those three things. They are important. Every kid should know that their Dad loves them. They should know that the expectation daily is to be good and work hard. I know it is simple but I want my kids to hear that every single day. I have added something to that here lately. I have been telling them, "Make a new friend today." I was thinking a couple of weeks ago about friends and how you can really never have to many.

One of the things that I do that my wife just shakes her head at (trust me there are many) is talk to any kind of service people that I deal with waiters, cashiers, basically anyone with a name tag that I deal with. Actually, I really wish everyone in the world wore a name tag. I would call everyone by there first name. It is fun to me to talk with people. It makes my day to say something silly or talk to them with some meaning. How many times a day does someone just call them, "hey you"? It is the least  I can do, call them by name. Talk to them like a person. Isn't that what Jesus did with everyone?

He came up to Andrew, Peter, James and John. He called out to them as perfect strangers. He talked to Phillip and Nathanael the same way. Time and time again Jesus made strangers his friends. He talked to anyone that was close by. Women at the well, tax collectors, and pharisees all had great moments of conversation with Jesus. Do we think we are to good to talk to people? Do we think we are to busy? Are we scared they are going to dump their problems on us? Are we scared we may make a new friend?

I think all to often in Christian life we get stuck in a bubble. When my wife was a student at Baylor, we joked about how students would walk across the street and not pay attention because they were safe in the "Baylor Bubble". We get stuck in our church friend bubble. It may be a small group you have at church. It may be just a few of your friends. It may be some people that you work with, but we miss out on relationships that could benefit our lives because we  don't stop and talk to people. I hope I don't ever become to busy or prideful or stuck up to make a new friend. If given the opportunity today,  make a new friend. Find out someone's name. Ask God to put someone new in your life. You can never have to many friends. You will never be able to meet all 7 billion people on the Earth. You might as well get to know as many as you can. You might learn something from someone. You might get an opportunity to share Jesus with someone. Make a friend today.