Written 2/25/11
Some people are really good at acting. I thought I was a pretty good actress.. I mean, I was Sandy from grease, in 8th grade, and I’ve played the role of a demon during a Christmas play, and I had reoccurring roles at BT Kidz minstry (maybe that was because I helped out on a monthly basis)… but newho… I’m coming to realize that I’m really not that good… It’s pretty much safe to say that no Oscars will be presented to me in my future.
But I’ll tell you who deserves an Oscar, besides Leonardo DiCaprio who has been snuffed almost every time…. some of the “lady boys” here.
I ended the last blog mentioning that Amanda and I had a dinner date with Katrina. When we first met him, he was so friendly, open, and interested in our conversation. We figured that the second meeting would be exactly the same, if not better. It sort of went the total and complete opposite.
He was happy to see us, but it was as if he was trying to avoid us.We ate, and we had some small talk. Katrina ended up sitting with her staff friends and talking. Amanda and I sat and ate.
We said bye to Katrina, and we left the restaurant. The wheels in my head were turning and turning. Why was there such a drastic change in his behavior?
The answer didn’t fully come till the next day, Tuesday.
Remember Christian on the Rocks?, Well we have to pass by his bar/restaurant in order to get to Katrina’s place. On our way to meet Katrina, Christian called out “Frienship! How are you?!”. I always stop and talk to Christian for a couple minutes every time I walk by his restaurant. I did that for about 2 weeks faithfully. So the day that we were walking to Katrinas, Christian asked where we were going. And I told him it was to have dinner with a friend, and then the thought came to me…”Have lunch with Christian.” So I told him we would come back to have lunch with him.
SO Tuesday came, and we met Christian for lunch. He sat with us the entire time this time. The other time that we tried eating with him, he was all over the place too, except for at the table with me. But this time was different.
He felt safe
But Katrina didn’t. He didn’t realize that we were genuine in
wanting to get to know him. He thought we were just another pair of
foreigners there to use him, eat the food at the restaurant, and go on
with my our own lives.
On the other hand, Christian began to see that Amanda and I genuinely cared about him and his life
He didn’t have to act, or put on a show to get us to eat in his restaurant.
He was starting to trust us.
We had a great conversation, which got a bit interrupted by a limping, old European man trying to flirt with Christian.
But Christian came back to us, and when we told him we were about to leave…he shook his head for us not to go, and made some eye motions backwards…that happened to be where the older man was sitting, drinking rum and coke.
Christian said so much without saying anything. He trusted us, and felt safe with us there, he didn’t want us to go and him be left in the potentially uncomfortable situation.
So we stayed longer..much longer
We made another date to set up an email account, and a facebook account for him. Which we did the following day. Some bad may come from that, but good will come from it too. It gives us a way to stay in touch with him, and share the Truth of God’s extravagant love for him.
We also got some shakes, and got to talk a bit more.
Christian walked with me interlocking arm to arm, and though I got many stares, inappropriate remarks towards Christian, and I’m sure judgements about me, I walked proudly with my head held high. I knew that God fashioned this friendship. And I love Christian very much.
We were able to give Christian a Daily Bread Devotional, that actually has the Bible readings in it, which is very convenient. He opened it up, and flipped through it looking very interested.
I know it’s going to be a blessing in his life.
No Oscars for him… trust won instead! (Leo should get it anyway.)
All credit goes to God, and Him giving us the heart to love others the way that He does.
Agenda: Love,
Bethsaida
