Anything good

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance encounter with someone from my past. Someone who I didn't like a whole lot back then. For really no other reason than we were different. Different personalities. Different ideas. Different friend groups. Different goals. Among other reasons which I'm sure seemed important at the time...

And this time, our interaction was genuinely quite pleasant. It's funny how little I could remember about our past. I actually wanted to talk to this person. Get to know how life was going. Maybe even hang out sometime.

A few days later I was reading from John 1 (yes, I'm still there, don't judge). I was reading where Jesus was calling his disciples, and noticed a couple verses about Nathanael. When he heard Jesus was from the town of Nazareth, he said, "How can anything good come from a place like Nazareth?"

Consequently, when he met Jesus shortly after, his opinion about this AND about the complete course of his life changed completely. I bet he wished he hadn't made that judgment!

And I thought back to my chance encounter.... How many times have I made a judgment about someone before getting to know them? Because I saw them act a certain way in a given moment? When have I assumed that we couldn't be friends? Or that I could learn from them? Perhaps their life views are different...they go to a different kind of church? Too liberal or too conservative? Too young or old? You don't have anything in common? Not educated?

What prejudices or judgments are keeping me from a meaningful--perhaps transforming--relationship?