I'm a talker!

For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— (1 Corinthians 1:5 NIV)

I am such a lucky man and I have been blessed with the gift of gab. My wife, Stephanie, rolls her eyes when we go places especially when we go places just for fun. I love to talk to people, strangers, and people who don't know anything about me. I am not an expert at too many things, but I know enough about a lot of things that I can hold a conversation with just about anyone. I call it a gift from God. I'm not sure Stephanie agrees.

Here's my logic. In order to share Christ with a stranger , you have to build a trust. You can't build a trust without a relationship. You can't build a relationship with some common ground. You can't find common ground unless you find out someone's interests. You can't find someone's interests unless you talk with them. My grandfather, a Church of a god pastor, was the same way. He never met a stranger; neither have I.

I have been greatly blessed by the conversations and relationships that began with strangers. I praise God for this wonderful, fun gift. It is a gift I will enjoy using until the day I die!

One Big Happy Family!

1 Timothy 5

Widows, Elders and Slaves

 1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
 

I love these verses. This is the simplest description of how we should treat each other.but, before I get started, I need to clarify something. I know not all families are like mine. We really love each other. My family is the best. We would die for each other if we needed to. When we laugh apart, we laugh together. When we cry, we all cry. It is so sad to me that all families aren't like this. If you have a great family like mine, these verses make sense. We need to treat each other like we're family.these verses don't say just treat your friends as family. We are supposed to treat EVERYONE like family. Friends, coworkers, aquaintances, strangers,black, white, Asian, Greek Jew, all need to be treated like your brother, sister, mom, or dad.

If we could all do that, myself included, this world would be a wonderful place.