Wednesday, January 06, 2010

I love relationships. It is a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily goal to be in growing relationships. I do understand that I can’t be in a growing, deepening relationship with everyone – we dare not become vastly wide and minimally deep. I also understand that relationships take cultivation, work, consistency and a bit of ‘luck’ (for lack of a better term).

Last week, we were making a visit to our partner church in Ensenada, Mexico. After getting the 150 SBC donated gifts past over armed guards, settling in with our ministry partners and connecting over the generalities, we set up one of a few meetings to sit face to face and connect regarding life, ministry and anything else. It was at this first meeting that I realized our relationship had changed. In previous meetings, I would say over and over ‘please, tell me what you need, what you want, how we can help.’ Once we had a chance to know these needs, we could see whether or not we could meet them. One of the reasons we have continued to support, encourage, and partner with this church is in the reality that for years they struggled with asking. They were extremely grateful for anything we could do and felt visibly uncomfortable to ask.

As we sat eye to eye on this particular trip and began to talk about ministry and hopes and needs, it was apparent to me that things had changed. Our relationship had changed. Our friends asked. They leaned across the table and said, ‘can you please help us?’ My heart jumped. Not simply to meet their requests but because they had requests, and they had ‘friends’ they were willing to ask.

Might our relationships this coming year experience the blessing of our God. Might they grow in patience, joy and peace. Happy New Year!

Nate