Posted on November 18, 2009 - by Larry

Tres Amigos

I am thinking of three friends here in Europe who really exemplify what it means to live missionally in a cross culture setting. My next couple of posts will be devoted to these guys. Now if you know who I am talking about you are not allowed to blurt out their names. I cannot name them due to security reasons but I hope if they read this they will be encouraged for they make a tremendous impact not only on my life but on the life of many others.

Thank you guys for helping me live life to the fullest. Think you for modeling for me how to live my life as salt and light in this world.

I have seen these traits as they have talked with me. I have also seen these as they talk with people they meet for the first time. It can be followers of Jesus or not yet followers or Jesus. They tend to treat people the same. To me they know instinctively how to live missionally.

Here are several things I am learning from them.

They are Fully Engaged – I am the only one they are talking to. I get the sense that I am the most important thing they are doing at that time.  They give full attention to the conversation. They are not multi – tasking. They are looking me in the eye. They are not looking for other people to talk to in the crowd. They are asking questions. They are fully engaged in our time together. They are not looking at their watch. They are not looking forward to the next thing. They are living in the present. I wish I could be more like that.

They ask Open-ended questions – When you talk to these guys they are not asking you simple “yes and no” questions. They ask open-ended questions. You cannot help but go deep in conversations. You are talking deeper than news, sports and weather. Though at times we do talk about Sports and news. We only talk about weather as it may interfere in our running or other outdoor activities. The point here is that you are getting to core questions that you have to think about and have an opinion about.