The Joy of Being 'With It'

When a carny visits another carnival, if someone tries to get you to play their game or something, you just say, “I’m with it.”  That tells them that you’re a carny too, so there’s an unspoken understanding.  They’ll stop trying to sell you something…you now share a common ground, even though you’re from different carnivals in different locations.
 
The same is true for Christians that I cross paths with in different settings.  Sometimes even through just one or two conversations, a deep bond and mutual understanding is formed….we share a common ground, a faith in common.  When that happens, there just isn’t enough time to fellowship!  Conversations may go on for hours, but there will always be an endpoint…gotta sleep sometime!  I often tell my friends (I’m getting into that middle-aged habit of oft-repeating myself, haha!) that fellowship with Christians is one of the foretastes of Heaven, and when we’re there, there is NO end time!

In a week, I’ll be traveling back to Kansas to join with some of my dear friends and family for an event.  I’ll get to spend time with the Ellis and Wyans, who have served in the ‘ministry trenches’ with my family and I many, many times. Their servant attitudes are refreshing, inspiring, and infectious!

I’ll get to see Marcus (aka ‘Flame’) and Crystal…my family’s path crossed with Marcus seven years ago, and we just all clicked!  We’ve been fortunate to watch a Christian ministry, career, and marriage develop right before our eyes, and it’s so exciting to prayerfully watch behind the scenes!  We don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like, but when we do, it’s as if we’d never been apart.

I’ll get to see my mom, dad, aunt, cousin, plus my sister who will be moving to North Africa two weeks later!  This will be a bittersweet time, because every time we do something lately, it has that ‘we won’t be doing this again for awhile’ feeling.  My sister, Melinda, has been my sidekick for her entire life, and still will be, but at a muuuuuuuch greater distance.  She and I have attended many a concert together (we’re the MAWWs, if you ever wondered…ask me later and I’ll teach you the handsigns!), so it will be great to get one more concert in before she leaves!

It’ll be a weekend of fellowship…..a foretaste of Heaven…..and we’re all ‘with it!’

Romans 1:12:  that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.