On occasion, life presents a golden moment. Book Store coffee shop of a prestigious Theological Seminary in a major U.S. city; with me, a young international ministry colleague (and mentee, to some extent), exploring potential academic options.
A typical-aged Grad student is chatting with the barista, a fellow aspiring pupil working his way through school. Their topic of discussion was “Blogs and Bloggers”. The erudite scholars voice frustration, if not disdain for your typical blogger, and their insatiable need to express uninformed opinions on any number of topics, particularly spiritual. The esteemed customer spouts his critique while the other steams his latte, “Well, if they have a well-researched paper with scholarly reference, then it’s O.K. The problem is so many of those ‘in the middle’”. Implication being, that the average Joe, Pastor, or pfff… layman, should keep his thoughts to himself. Hang on to his words, “those in the middle”.
I patiently waited for our coffee. Nearly forty years of ministry experience since Seminary has taught me to keep my business card case handy in my pocket. Quietly, I remove a small publicity magnet with catchy advertisement of my ministry website, “Hankolulu”. In actuality, the blog you are now reading.
I politely place it on the counter in front of him and with a smile, softly suggest, “Meet me —in the middle— sometime.”
He glances sideways and responds sheepishly, “Well played.”
