Friday: Dinner with Friends

The past 2 weeks I have been in a seminar for my Doctor of Ministry degree. For me this basically means that I will spend the majority of the day in a classroom with 9 other pastors discussing the books we have read and presenting papers we wrote for this seminar. At times it can be quite exciting, but it can also be extremely draining for this many days.

While I am in Waco I stay with one of my best friends, a guy who really defines the phrase found in Proverbs "there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." This friend is more like a brother to me. We have shared a large portion of life together and he has truly blessed me by challenging me to be better. He is one of those people I could simply not do without.

Most nights I am in Waco we share a meal together. It's never anything too fancy, usually just a few vegetables out of his garden and some bread. It's quite good. Our conversation typically follows the same routine. We start off talking about our days, what we each learned, the high points, and our frustrations. Since we are both in ministry and interested in theology, it typically turns into a theological discussion of some sort. By the end of the meal we have usually turned to laughter over something quite ridiculous. 

I set outside an hour for the meal before I go back to studying, but it seems that it often runs close to 2 hours. I never regret these meals going over their time limit. Not only does the food nourish me, the conversation does as well.

It is life giving for me. It is grace. Last week I wrote about the two walking on the road to Emmaus to discover that Jesus is with them all along after they see Jesus break bread. Once Jesus is gone, one says something close to this, "Surely he was with us this entire time and we did not even know it?"

I often fell the exact same way after a dinner with this friend. Surely Jesus was with us the entire time and we did not even know it.

I think meal time is often like this, Jesus continues to show up at our table, in our conversation, in our laughter, and in the breaking of the bread. 

And there is something about a meal with Jesus that changes everything.