Often when we move away from home for the first time, we feel both excitement and homesickness. In these times, it is important to remember that we are not alone.
Several months ago, I was in the public library of Olathe. I was obviously and loudly amused at something I was reading, which drew the attention of a stranger sitting near me. He was using his laptop on the library’s public Wi-Fi service just like I was. We started up a conversation and found we had similar interests and backgrounds: we were both tech geeks, though he did it professionally while I am more of a hobbyist.
I can’t even remember his name. I don’t believe we talked for more than 15 minutes, but he asked if he could pray for me. Despite not knowing much more than my name and that I was looking for work, the prayer spoke to my needs and it was a very moving experience. I felt a sense of true kinship with someone I had never met, and likely will never meet again.
Approaching a stranger with your faith on your sleeve can be a risk in some ways. When he asked if he could pray for me, he didn’t know my reaction.
He approached me because he believed that it was what God wanted him to do. When he found that we shared the same faith, the encounter stopped being an interaction between strangers and became one brother helping another. This is what Christians should always be to each other; we should act like family.
The early church as described in the book of Acts is a group of people who treated each other like a family.
The apostle Paul, one of the founders of the early church and the greatest expounder of Christian theology, referred to his student Timothy as his son in the faith. Christians are referred to as brothers and sisters. 12