Loving as Jesus did

[Nessa]

On Valentine's Day our local library has a book table with heaps of books on it.

Sounds pretty normal...

But what they do on this day is wrap up all those books in brown paper so you dont know what the book is you're getting. The idea is to have a "blind date" with a book you might of never have picked otherwise and who knows.. you might actually enjoy it!

You know, when I go into the library I have my favourite sections and authors. I look at covers. I sometimes go by book recommendations and reviews of others. Because what other's say can greatly influence us. I often stick with who I'm familiar with and what I know.

And people can be alot like that in life. We tend to hang round what and who we are familiar with. We can look at the outward appearance, "judging a book by it's cover". Automatically believing what someone else says about another is true.

I kind of see the internet as a type of "lucky dip" too. Though I also believe God brings people together for different purposes.

Age and appearance can become alot less important here. We talk to people we may never have talked to otherwise because often in real life we talk with those who we feel we are suppose to talk with. We do what feels comfortable. What we feel is 'proper'.

But I also think of Jesus. He crossed many, many cultural barriers. He sat with the woman at the well and talked to her, He touched the hand of a leper and he invited himself for dinner at a tax collectors house. He dined with sinners not with the one's who considered themselves more righteous. I mean Jesus wasn't a sinner but he hung out with people he had nothing in common with. Why?

Because he loved them. And we are told to walk as he did. To see people through his eyes and not our own eyes. To reach out to those outside "our group".. To consider other's interests above our own. And to cross the cultural barriers that Jesus himself crossed.

There are many unknown people in this world who need someone to not "judge the book by it's cover" and to just get to know them.
To show them that they are actually worth knowing. And to show them the one who knows and loves them best.

[Nicki]

Absolutely - I think different people are called to different things though. Extroverts probably thrive on getting to know different people, whereas for we more reserved types it's like pulling out our own fingernails...

[Storyteller]

I love building relationships online. I find it easier to open up. In real life I am actually really shy, no self confidence (though thats changing)

Personally, I tend to mix with people that are, shall we say, less "mainstream"

I like people with a story to tell.

I didnt want to be around people for a long time, they scared me. Now, i feel like im coming out of hiding a little and what im finding is actually quite fun.

[Storyteller]

Oh, and I love people, too easily and too soon sometimes but I wouldrather offer live and get hurt than offer any less.

[Nessa]