For last week's meeting we chose to go out in public with our group and meet somewhere that we would be readily accessible to the public around us. We chose to meet at Broadway Coffee Shop in Kansas City. This was the first time we had been public as a group. I say "been public" and it sounds like something secretive or professional but it's really just that we were finally feeling ready to begin our meetings and increase our openness to the world at large.
The Lord did not disappoint us. For about the first hour that we were sitting in the back of Broadway, we were just sharing about how our weeks had been and sharing about what we had done. We also had our own version of Happies and Crappies but that shall remain unmentioned. The way we had chosen to sit granted me the perfect opportunity to grab a seat that had a full view of the coffee shop. At about 8:00 PM, I looked up to notice that a dark-haired young man had entered the coffee shop out of the rain. I was particularly distracted at that point because I may or may not have parked partially illegally in the bank parking lot across the street and had been watching for tow trucks for a while.
When the young man entered the coffee shop, he walked what seemed to be distractedly around, looking for a seat to take. At that point, I had no idea what was going to happen. After about four or five minutes of walking around and thinking about sitting down, the young man approached our table and at the last minute veered to a sit that was all but included in our circle. After sitting down, the man removed his back pack and took off his hoodie and readjusted his chair so that he was turned toward us at a half profile.
You could see that he was distracted by the way he kept mumbling to himself and how his face was in constant motion, moving from one emotive facial expression to the next. At this point, we were all aware of his presence but continued to share with each other and speak about what we had learned reading. After a few minutes, Cameron looked over at the guy and invited him to join us. With a slight adjustment of his glasses he gave his assent. We began to ask him about who he was and what he was doing. The first thing we learned was that not only were his physical mannerisms distracted but his speech was somewhat broken and distracted as well. Don't misunderstand me, the man was an English speaker but it was almost as if he couldn't form the words he wanted to speak.
After only a few moments, the young man left. I wonder if he was uncomfortable with the subject we were talking about. As he began to walk out, we realized that he had left his sweater. I ran after him to make sure he didn't walk out in the rain uncovered. After I got back, I felt disappointed that I had not urged him to rejoin us and talk with us. I shared this thought with the guys and how I thought that maybe this was something the Lord was testing us with. So, after that prompting, Cameron went after him and brought him back to sit with us. Once again, he remained slightly detached from the group until we urged him to join us.
During the second round of conversation, we discovered something undeniable about this man. Although his conversational skills were awkward, and his speech seemed to be a struggle, he was undoubtedly a brilliant man, almost like a savant. He told us what he studied and where he was from. He told us many things about what he was doing and what he was thinking, yet all the while, he remained almost awkwardly aloof. When we began to discuss the Bible once again, he remained for the most part quite. After what seemed like a short amount of time, he finally got up and left for good. We all made sure that he knew we were glad that he had joined us.
Not very long after he had left, a man approached us from another table and introduced himself. He said that he had been overhearing our conversation for quite some time and that he was amazed that we were discussing such things unashamedly in public. He also was a Christian man and shared with us how happy and proud he was to see that fellow Christians weren't scared to live the Gospel publicly. He was also surprised by the fact that we had so openly accepted an odd stranger into our midst.
After he had returned to his table, I looked at the guys and thought that the Lord had sent this man as an affirmation that we had done what he had wanted us to in inviting the stranger to our table and welcoming him to our group. This was one of the first times that I had truly been tuned into what God had been wanting from me for a very, very long time.
As we left Broadway at closing time, we agreed to pray on the street in a circle. I know this sounds like Bible thumping evangelism at its best but what better way is there to ask the Holy Spirit to come over a place or a group of people than to pray? The entire time that we prayed, you could here cars driving by in the background and the chatter of hangers on outside the coffee shop. When we ended our prayer and began to go to our own cars, I felt such an overwhelming sense of joy. The Lord was blessing us with both tasks and encouragement. This is what it is, to be loved.
A Son of God,
Morgan McCoy
