1992 Who is This Man – Day Two

There I was at Mexico Tipico (surprise!) with about ten tables placed together. I was so young and boy did I have the big hair on a tootpick mid-twenties body. It was during the bright colored, baggy, linen pants stage. I was a youth minister with a growing contingency. When I look back, it is hard to believe that the guy in those pictures was actually a corporate officer before going into ministry.

Mr. X. and his wonderful wife were there and as always they were buying our meals. He didn’t do it flashy and he didn’t do it too proudly and never in front of people but they always bought us meals. Mr. and Mrs. X have been buying our meals out for fifteen years. Every once in a while, Mr. X will leave the check on the table long enough for us to buy our own meal or to even buy theirs. He knows that it is just as much a blessing for us to give as it is for them.

However, it hasn’t been just meals. It has been friendship. Like I wrote yesterday, you have a real friend when the assumption is that they are never even tempted to choose you over God. But Mr. X’s friendship has been even more than that – he is consistent and constant.

So many “friendships” are based on the social investments of laughing, eating and buying meals for one another. So many “pastoral friendships” are based on the same investments made primarily one way. Over time, some of these “friendships” actually develop into true and lasting relationships. My friendship with Mr. X has not been one of politics, patronizing, diplomacy, correctness or give and take. It has been a friendship that has been given without any strings attached that has simply gotten stronger and stronger over the years.

With Mr. X, buying dinner wasn’t the beginning of friendship but the result. What a great truth to live as a leader.