Family by Faith

John Bryant, Denver, NC

The last week of June I helped lead a middle school mission trip to Atlanta, Georgia. The youth had the opportunity to see life in a very urban setting, something many of them had never experienced growing up in Denver, North Carolina. They worked with some distinct populations, including the homeless and the elderly. I believe everyone on the trip was touched and changed in some way while there, myself especially.

Twice I connected with people I barely knew simply through matters of faith. The first was Samuel, who I met at one of the churches where we worked. As far as I could tell, he is not on staff there, just a member who volunteers his time. We talked about the church and the youth. He shared some fascinating insights about early Hebrew culture. As our conversation drew to a close, he called me “brother” and drew me into a bear hug. Now I’m fairly tall at 6’3” but Samuel enveloped me. I experienced an amazing feeling of acceptance from this man I had known for all of five minutes.

The second was Braden, one of the interns at the church where we stayed. I had talked with Braden a few times during the limited free time I had in the evenings but did not know much about him. The same day I met Samuel I ran into Braden shortly before lights out. He seemed edgy and distracted, a far cry from the easy-going student I had gotten to know. As we talked I discovered that his grandmother was in the hospital and the doctors had not given her much time. I asked if he would like to pray and we stood there in the hall as I offered a short prayer for his grandmother and his family. At this point the walls crumbled a bit and Braden released some of the emotions he had been carrying. We didn’t say anything else; no more words we needed. I hugged him and then moved on to get the youth ready for lights out.

Having both of those experiences in the same day really stood out to me. I probably won’t have another conversation with either Samuel or Braden. Yet we shared something that day. We had an honest connection as family. Not a family by blood, but one born of water.