When is a conference not just a conference? Last month I lived out the answer to that
question. Part of my job with theatre is
to work conferences occasionally. Our conference floors have
the typical vendors, booths, and lots of passersby. While hosting our
booth, we meet the neighboring booths. On this day
we had a lady next-door with such a welcoming smile, and she appeared so easy to talk to. I initiated, “Hello. I’m Linda," and noticing she sold books, I leaned in to see her variety of children’s titles. I
asked about her company, and she asked about mine, and in the course of 30
minutes, we discovered some experiences in common. We’d both changed jobs a lot, which led me to comment, “The Lord has taken me to some jobs I never knew I’d have.” The words spilled from my mouth as a simple
statement of fact, though afterward I wondered, would she say we had God in
common? She explained her family's rather peculiar reactions to some of her jobs, and I shared, “I’ve prayed my way through so many new
roles, from teaching school to working with Boy Scouts, then to theatre, and a
lot of volunteer positions along the way.”
Really a fun dialogue with her, with all kinds of laughter. Yet never did she remark or show any facial expression regarding the
Lord. Neither to agree nor to disagree. Neither regarding prayer. All the same, I loved her being our booth neighbor. I loved sharing God’s name with her. And that’s why this conference was more than
a conference. With the Lord, anything
and everything can be more than it seems. Conference + God = Blessing.
