Javier

He happens to be one of my favorite characters on Felicity. Felicity happens to be one of my favorite background tv shows...you know...you intend to read or write letters or open mail or work but you turn on something in the background just to keep you company and then you end up watching multiple episodes in one sitting? Anyway, Javier is energetic and has the most genuine heart on t.v.
So lastnight I go to dinner with a friend that I haven't caught up with in several months. We always have great conversation when we do catch up. More so, there always seems to be some undiscovered treasure whenever we get together - not necessarily between us but in any particular environment. These 'treasures' are bred by my friend's sincere intentionality with people - anyone and everyone. It's a beatutiful thing really, and one of my my beloved qualities in a person.

I eat soup and drink a beer and he eats tacos and drinks a pretty amazing margarita. I enjoy the company and the stories. I think we both light up a room and honestly on several odd occassions by-standers tend to comment on the joy that we exude in just the laughs and smiles. This sounds arrogant and it is not - it is that beautiful spirit within that comes out when you feel connected to something bigger than yourself. That's my take on it.
Anyway, after beer and soup - healthy diet - he asks me to meet his friend, Javier. Javier loves Jesus and it is apparent in the glow in his eyes. Javier has 'it' whatever 'it' is.......I have 'it' too though 'it' is unexplainable in words...rather apparent only in actions. And 'it' is contageous. Isn't it so divine when we encounter other random people whom we have had no previous connection what so ever and then over a beer at a bar within 5 minutes your heart wants to be exposed. God really is contageous. I am beautifully affected when I encounter people whose hearts, too, through completely different circumstances and stories are enamored by God. There is a peace that comes with their presence and it solidifies what I already know and feel. It is tried and true. Being broken and humbled by God is a real thing with real effects that have no boundaries on goodness/badness/situation/status/culture...you name it - no boundaries. God's love is for everyone who chooses to recognize that we are part of a bigger story. Every circumstance and situation that we face is for a reason. Everything. Nothing is by chance. How affirming is this?
Lastnight was perfect. I would think for my lack of faith at times that I don't even deserve to be affirmed in the way that I feel God affirms me at times. That is grace in all it's beauty and all it's power. Grace, too, like no other thing on the earth, can change people. It is so rare on this earth that we experience true, unwarranted grace. Life's little graces makes God's grace all that much more potent.

It is by grace that I am who I am. It is only by grace that Javier has a joy that explodes when he speaks of his life and his children and his wife of 16 years (also his college sweetheart.) I am thankful for my new friend, Javier, and the light that he shines even in a little bar in East Cobb. How divine that God would have him there. How divine that lastnight was so perfect with such a dear friend. I promise you a year ago I couldn't at all see God's purposes in this broken relationship. Nor did I have the faith to just trust that His ways were better than mine. How thankful I am that my life is not my own but that was made to glory God - even in brokenness and trials....even through a beer and a simple conversation....

Next time you are in East Cobb, stop by Tiajuana Joe's and have a beer with Javier. You might come away a believer in faith and grace and mercy and all things so rare in this world. Yes, my dinner buddy lastnight always has some kind of treasure to share whenever we get together....