Anything Can Happen

A funny thing happens when you break out of your usual routine. Maybe you moved to a different part of town, decided to go back to school, or went to a different coffee shop. It seems like the simplest shuffle of our routine can give us opportunities we wouldn’t have had otherwise. I think this comes down to a simple truth: when you change where you go or what you do, you meet new people. This is one of the ideas behind our annual church picnic. We want to change our routines so we mix with friends both new and old. You never know what could happen when you start mixing people like this. All sorts of friendships have developed at the picnic and, on one occasion, the beginning of a marriage.
Tim and Aimee didn’t know much about each other before the church picnic in 2012. They knew of each other but never had the time to sit down, eat together, and talk. That is, until Tim invited himself to come along with Aimee to the church picnic so they could sit together. Their paths had never crossed much before this and it wasn’t until the routine changed, until there would be one service with our entire church together that the opportunity came. On that day, with the sun shining, burgers grilling, and nothing pulling them away from the park, they sat together at the service. They had time to sit and eat together because they didn’t have anywhere else they had to go to eat lunch. With time on their hands, they decided to take a walk and talk. They haven’t stopped talking since. Their love only grew from that day and they got married the next August.
Anything can happen when you change up your routine and start meeting new people. The church picnic is the perfect opportunity to run into people you haven’t seen in a while, eat with a family you’ve never met, or maybe even find someone special. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you’ll meet your future spouse at the church picnic, but you might meet your next best friend. 
Patrick Frost

Middle School Youth Pastor