Today I met a beautiful man

Now before you go getting all excited about this, let me explain.

I think I have mentioned before in my blog that my local congregation, Brunswick Uniting Church, has embarked upon a new program, to try to increase our connectedness with our local community. Called "The Olive Way", this involves on three mornings every week opening up the church complex as a kind o drop-in centre, staffed by a couple of volunteers from the congregation.

We have signage out the front on Sydney Rd, inviting people to come inside, either into the church itself for some quiet reflection or prayer; or to the coffee house at the back, where they can have a cup of coffee or tea, a biscuit or piece of fruit to nibble on, and a casual chat, a read of the newspaper or the like.

This week I have been fairly buried under the weight of essays and CPE applications, and was tempted to try to swap my shift this morning for another week, but am really glad that I didn't because otherwise I would never have met John (not his real name).

John is an older man, who lives a suburb or two away, in a Housing Commission flat on his own. He spends a fair bit of his time at the Brunswick Club, which is across the road from our church. This week there was an article about "The Olive Way" in the local paper, and I suspect John had read it, and was talking to one of his mates at the club about coming over to check us out. His mate didn't want to join him in this adventure, so John wandered in on his own this morning.

As he sat and told us bits of his life story (which was certainly not the story of an easy life), there would be times when John's face would light up with a beaming smile, as he remembered something significant from his past, and then he shared that with us. He struck me as a pretty gentle soul, who struggles with a number of things, but doesn't let the struggles define his attitude to life, and so despite any of the negative influences in his life, he is pretty positive to be around.

He told us that he had had some connections with the Methodist Church in the past (mainly through his parents), and so Barry, my fellow volunteer, asked John if he would like to have a 'tour' of our church building and hall, out of 'historical interest', so off they went.

We had commented earlier in our conversations about the weather, and how the light showers we experienced throughout this morning were nice, but nowhere near enough rain to make any kind of dent on the drought. When John was about to leave, he told us, almost sheepishly, that he had prayed for rain when he was inside the church.

As Barry and I packed up at 1pm, and had to battle utterly torrential rain to get to our cars, I couldn't help but grin at the interesting timing of John's prayer for rain, and the sudden downpour almost immediately following.

Now, I know many people with deep, theological brains tend to scoff at the prospect of things like praying for rain, which would imply that we view God is an "interventionist God" (which I have been told is not such a good image of God). However today I couldn't help but wonder if maybe there is some connection between the rain and John's prayer, not because God is an "interventionist God", but rather because God is a loving and encouraging God, who seeks to reach out to his little ones in ways that they can relate to.

I hope John comes back to visit us again sometime. Maybe his mate will be brave enough to join him next time.