As I sat down in Starbucks waiting for a business colleague to join me, I took a quick inventory of everyone in the café. A father and son were enjoying a late holiday breakfast together; the son impatiently waiting to get started, the father casual, relaxing, enjoying the moment for what it was. Two couples were in their own spaces, each wrapping up a morning catch-up conversation before heading back to the challenges of their separate days. Just beside me was a young man caught up with something on his iPad. My eye stopped, wondering what was so intense that he was totally consumed. The details hinted at a man who had seen far more than his age initially indicated. He loved life yet was also bruised by his journey. It has left him wiser and more intentional; he wanted to make a difference.
When my colleague joined me, it was for a quick conversation. Once completed, we were going to meet with a childhood friend involved in the space I am working in. Even as we shook hands, he turned and aid “Wow, he’s right beside you.”
“Who?”
“My childhood friend I want you to meet. Let me say hello, then we can talk.
Their greeting left me with an awareness how experience and simplicity can work together. They knew each other. There was an obvious bond of trust between them. There was also no need to rush – we turned and moved into the subject at hand. There was a time for the three of us; it would come when it was appointed.
As we wrapped up our conversation, I realized he had moved a short distance away. He was still focused on the challenge at hand. It demanded his attention. I also knew he was ready when the time was right.
I took note of the intent written across the small details of his life. An observation notes that when a writer “says that ‘he walked all over them’, it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on.” (1 Corinthians 15.26)
