1 Corinthians 9: 19-13 (The Message)
“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized - whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ - but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”

I was in Boston last night/ today and as I walked the streets I tried very hard to look into the faces of as many people as possible. (I hope no one caught me staring :)) It is such a culturally diverse city...it seemed like every person we passed by was from a different ethnic background...every person we stopped to ask for directions (which, for those of you who know me, happened on more then one occasion) had a different accent. As I walked around the city I was just blown away with how many people from all over the world there are to reach in just one place...how many different opportunities we pass up on a daily bases to connect with someone because we don’t have a way to connect.
The more “languages” we can speak, the greater platform of influence we have. The more cultures I understand, the more I can speak to the heart of those who seemingly have nothing “in common” with me. I believe that every person we encounter, we should be able to find something to connect with them on. As I walked around the city yesterday I just had an increasing desire to start to dig into the lives of those around me and figure out what makes them who they are... I want to know where they are coming from and hopefully be able to learn their “language” and speak God’s message to their heart in a way they can understand.
There is this awesome group that just started up here in Rhode Island called Prodigy (check out the website for more info: www.prodigyspace.blogspot.com) and the first week we talked about “touch points.” Touch Points are things we experience that help us to connect with other people...I think it would be really neat to create touch points by getting to know committed followers of other religions...maybe that would help me understand what they believe, why they believe it, and give me more ways to know how to show them the truth?