Wednesday Pam, Mark, Sarah, Megan, and I went to spend a few days with a couple of Pam’s friends. They were on vacation at Hermosa beach and invited us to join them. We had hopes of doing beach ministry while we were there, not realizing that they were staying at a more private beach, as apposed to Jaco, the more touristy area.
Melissa, her husband Billy, his best friend Josh, and his girlfriend Tara were all so inviting to us. It was really interesting spending a few days with them. For me, it was the first time I’ve really spent with “non-Christian” Americans since I’ve left the states. It really made me think about the conversations we were holding, the things we were watching, our time in the word, etc.
We had an awesome time just hanging out with them, but I hope some seeds were planted.
The four of them left Saturday to return to the states, so we had planned to go back to San Jose as well. Before returning, we all spent a few more hours together at Jaco 
beach (Meg, Pam, & I actually ended up staying another night). Mark, Pam, and Megan went tootling around on beach cruisers while Sarah and I splashed around in the waves and caught some rays on the sand. I’ll admit, I was feeling a bit guilty about our time away…until we met Kevin and Sean.
Kevin walked up ranting about how we had his bike–the hot pink cruiser that was in Sarah possession. Turns out Kevin and Sean are port authority police from NYC–go figure. Sarah and I were able to mention that we were missionaries before Kevin plopped down on the sarong with me and kept chatting away, dropping expletives nearly every sentence in his stereotypical Brooklyn accent. We talked for a few minutes before I asked what he was doing here–company vacation? He explained that there were twenty-something of them down here for a sort of “get-to-know-you” time since they worked such different shifts.
Kevin: So we’re just living it up, partying, drinking a lot. Oh, my bad–you don’t drink.
Me: I drink. Not a lot, but I drink.
Kevin: (Shocked) You drink?
Me: Yeah, Jesus drank in the Bible.
Kevin: Only wine, and it probably wasn’t that good.
Me: I disagree. Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine. I would imagine it was pretty amazing wine.
Kevin: I’m aware; I’m familiar. I was raised Catholic–my mother is very religious!
Me: Oh, we’re not (signaling at Sarah).
Kevin: (Shock..again) What? You’re not?
Me: No, we’re not very “religious.”
Kevin: Oh, you have a strong faith.
Me: Yeah. To us it is definitely about the relationship with Christ, not about religion. Religion is a set of rules and laws, and that’s not what Jesus came for.
Kevin: I don’t like rules and laws. I have to enforce them, but I don’t like them.
The conversation drifted elsewhere from there, but I was happy I was able to share that with him. I’m sure he had no idea that kind of conversation was coming when starting going on about a hot pink beach cruiser.
