Enlarge Your World?

Thanks to Roy Williams for shaking up my thinking this fine Monday. This is a wonderful, yet unsettling, perspective as shared in his weekly email.

It hit me. "I've become an eavesdropper, listening to the conversations of strangers."

It's 5:00AM and I'm sitting at the bar of an all-night café on the wrong side of town eating a three-dollar breakfast, listening to the smelly, funny stories of downtrodden people who know each other well. Their sparkling banter gives me a glimpse into problems I'll never touch, victories I'll never celebrate, a life I'll never have. These are they who will never have internet access, a credit card or cable TV.

But they seem happy.

I've come here to learn what it means to be an outsider in America.

People tell me they want to write. I respond, "You can't find a pencil?" In truth, few want to write. Most want only to have written. People tell me they want to travel, have adventures, meet interesting people and learn about different cultures. They want to expand their world. I'm betting you can guess my answer to that one... "If you will expand your world, you must crawl on your hands and knees, get on your belly and squirm under the fence that surrounds your insulated life."

For most people, travel means being pampered by accommodating servants in exotic places. But interesting people, strange cultures and high adventure don't await you on the other side of the world. They await you on the other side of town.

Hmm...good challenge.

Final thought from Williams:

Are you willing to get on your belly and crawl under that fence? Will you invest an hour to enlarge your world?

Seems to me that this is what Christ calls His followers to do. Take the harder road. Become aquainted with the downtrodden, those who are not so proud to admit they have failigs and needs. Those you and I might overlook, unless we take a step into their world.

I might go to Denny's tonight...