Ruth and I had a conversation last night about Love. We were talking about how people change – how people can experience the love of God and how we can help that happen. It really reminded me of that verse which says something like Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
I think trying to get people to have an encounter with God is like trying to drink sand from a sieve. It’s just one of those things which seems to be ruled by the law of chaos, or the law of nature – uncontrollable. It something which cannot be engineered, suggested or even nudged. The only exception to that, in my experience, is the times when we sit and talk and hearts connect. You know what I mean – that completely unexpected conversation which happened when you were walking through town and you saw one of your friends and you stopped for coffee and everything just seemed right. You talked about everything and nothing, and before long, you noticed there was something unusual. It was like the planets had aligned and something clicked. Maybe it was the combination of a perfect amount of aural noise in that particular Starbucks at that particular time of day. Or maybe it was the way that new trainee barista accidentally burned the beans or the milk, and the scent made it’s way out the door, mixed with the homeless woman’s designer imposter perfume she found in the dumpster and instigated a deep emotional response when it hit your nostrils at the exact moment.
