Pleasantly Surprised

This past week, I did something that I have not done in a long time. And frankly, it was something that I am not very good at in my “pastoral role”.

I went on a home visit to see two teenage boys from our church.

My goal in doing these home visits is to reconnect and keep some of our “estranged” students and families engaged. My first attempt was with a family who has two high school boys.

What made this interesting for me is that I have not always had it easy with these boys (the youngest in particular).

Admittedly, I was not looking forward to this encounter. I was worried that they didn't really want me to be there and would be unresponsive. It could be awkward. Or even passively hostile.

However, I was super surprised at how well it went, especially with the younger brother.

He was the first to come to the door and onto the porch (where we had our social distanced, masked meeting). He was the first to engage in conversation. He was really open about how he was doing and how school was going on. He even asked me how I was doing!

It was like I was talking to a different kid than the one I had encountered in the past. It was wonderful.

When I was communicating with the mother later, I shared this thought with her, and she told me that her youngest son had been very open about how excited he was that I was coming. He apparently had been talking about it for a week.

It got me thinking about how we typically misread situations and people all the time. We assume we know everything. Only to be completely wrong.

1 Samuel 16:7 says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.””

Here God is reminding Samuel to not look at physical qualities when anointing the next king of Israel. It is not simply about how big and strong they are, but where their heart is.

We typically look at the exterior of people. How tall they are. How strong they are. What color hair they have. Things like that.

But we also look at outward behaviors and hold on to their past actions and don't give their heart a look. That is what I did with this ninth-grade boy.

I had held onto difficult experiences with him from the past and was completely blindsided by such a positive conversation.

It was a reminder for me to look at someone's heart, remember how God sees them, and not hold on to grudges from the past. You never know. You may walk into a pleasant and wonderful conversation.

It is a good thing God doesn't hold a grudge with us about our past with Him.

Anyway, I was just thinking...