I was going through some old posts I had saved on my computer. These were written almost 10 years ago on a different site when I was serving another Church in a distant city. I kept some of them on my computer and read through them occasionally to get inspiration or a laugh. This one caught my attention, and I thought I would repost it as it was written. I hope you enjoy

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I had an interesting experience last week while donating plasma. A lady at the plasma center who was also donating sat down next to me reading a book called “Growing an Engaged Church.” I have never read it. My initial guess is that it might be about how the church as a group can engage people at a deeper level. I went to Amazon, and it says that we need to stop “doing Church and become the Church.” I judged the younger looking lady to be a college student. From the look of the underlines in her book, she was reading it for a class – probably a class on practical ministry.

If that is the case, I find it very interested how the rest of the morning played out. She sat and read her book without ever looking up to see the people around her. There was Kyle who came into work at 8:00 am for a full day. He estimates he helps over 50 people a day with their donations. Or there was the nice lady that helped me when the donation was complete. Her name was Barb. She had been in that day since 5:30 am and was feeling exhausted. She is working two jobs to make ends meet and worked 16 hours the day before. She wore a huge button that was a picture of her and her husband on their wedding day. She knew people who lived in my little community of Epworth and wondered if I knew them too. We had a nice chat while she unhooked my machine.

Meanwhile, the lady with the book never looked up. She did eventually talk on her cell phone to someone. Then as she was about to leave she began talking to a young man directly across from her. They apparently know each other from college. After a short conversation with him, she slipped out quietly. Probably no one but myself noticed she was there … or gone.

The nice lady and I finished our conversation 5 minutes after I put my coat on to leave. She asked nicely if I will be back in a couple of days. I responded in the affirmative, and she said “Well, I will see you in a few days” with a smile.

The reality is simple. We don’t need more books about becoming “engaged” with people in the community. We need more individuals who care about other people.