Friends I've Never Met

I had a cool realization last night.

My friends in China have a family who will be joining their team soon, and they were in Colorado this week for training. I called them and invited them over last night to connect with them about our mutual friends and interests.

I was bustling around the kitchen making iced tea and scrounging for acceptable "guest food" when my brother Nathan came up.

"What are you doing?" he asked.
"My friends are coming over so I'm just putting together some snacks," I said.

Then Nathan started asking a bunch of questions more irritating than truly interrogative, which happens to be his particular specialty.

"How do you know them? Do they have kids? How many kids do they have? How old are their kids?"

And my answers were.... "Uh..." I'd never met the Johnsons, and didn't know the 'how many' or 'how old' of their kids, or really very much about them at all. But I knew they were my friends. It must've sounded weird to Nathan that I had friends I'd never seen before, but it struck me as something really cool.

Being a part of the Body of Christ means we can claim friends we've never met. We have friends and family everywhere.

I'll never forget being overseas in 2004 and meeting a woman who was a secret believer. Neither of us spoke the others' language, but she was told I was a Christ-follower, and when she saw me, her eyes sparkled and she gave me the most thankful sincere embrace I have ever received. Sister. Friend.