?!

It isn’t very often that a person is reunited with a friend that they haven’t seen in over twenty years. Especially not when the person isn’t much older than twenty. Yet, as if I had known the man all my life, I have had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Young over the past few days, and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

My parents became acquainted with this gentleman a few years before I was born. Since then, both of our families have moved a bit, careers have changed, and lives went on. Eventually, geographical distance also put a gap in between our families. Regardless, Mr. Young has always made an effort to check in with my family from time to time.

I honestly don’t recall ever knowing him in person. I think that the last time I saw him was when I was two or three years old, which is before my real cognizance. However, I can recall answering the phone and having some unknown person giving me a tough time about anything and everything, all in good fun. Not only do I remember these phone calls, but I fondly remember each time when I realized that it was, indeed, Mr. Young on the other end of the line, and the laughs that would follow. So even though I hadn’t ever really met him, I still had an affinity towards him.

For whatever reason, he decided to make a trip out to our part of the country to visit my parents for a few days. It was planned a couple of months in advance, so my mom made sure that I knew when he’d be there, and we planned to have dinner as a family on the first night of his stay. He was only here for a few nights, so we wanted to enjoy as much of his company as possible.

The first evening was a ton of fun. He is a very, very knowledgeable man. He’s very wise, very thoughtful, and an extremely good conversationalist. We talked about everything from current items of interest, past family events, and deep theological topics. I especially enjoyed the last of those – in his many years, he’s read and studied greatly, and thus has a lot to discuss. Many of the theological topics were things that I hadn’t ever really spent much time considering, so to sit and pick his brain on the topics, to challenge his reasoning, and to see things in new light was just incredible.

I had to skip the second evening of his visit, but then made it a point to be back at my parents’ home for a repeat evening tonight, the last of his stay. It was just as good as the first, and I’m so glad that I took the time to be there. There were plenty of other things that I probably should have been doing, but it really didn’t matter – it was well worth my time.

I’m really glad that there are so many amazing people in the world. I’m also extremely impressed with the friends that my parents have made through the years, and I feel especially priveleged to get to spend time with them when the opportunity arises.

This also makes me stop and think – how many other, equally amazing people are out there? How many do I know already, and what am I doing to nurture and strengthen those associations? I realize that I do know some really awesome people already, and I just hope that I don’t overlook others. It is really easy to get stuck in the mundane routine of daily life and never branch out to meet new people. Trust me.

Thus, I’ve resolved to be better, and I challenge all who are willing to do the same. Take time to get to know someone, even if you just stop and talk for a bit. You might just meet someone that can really be an amazing addition to your life.