…As I Fly to See Friends

I have virtual friends. I’ve found them online, and I often hang on their words. They stretch me and grow me and challenge me and inspire me.

And they have little idea who I am.

I dream of the conversations we might have. What I’d share with them and what they might say. And before you judge me and think I’m in need of some mental health intervention…take a look in the mirror…I’m thinking you do this too.

Maybe it’s an author, or a speaker, or a pastor, or a musician. Another leader or friend of a friend. Maybe an acquaintance, a twitter or Facebook friend.

And today I’m leaving on a plane…to fly away to meet some of these virtual friends at an amazing conference. Women I have read, and admired, and some I’ve strived to emulate. And they mean so much to me…yet they don’t really know me at all.

Such a dilemna…and oh so strange.

I wouldn’t be who I am were it not for some of them, and I’ve never been more excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because I get to meet them face to face, but nervous because I’m just me. No fame, no renown, no extraordinary accalades…no big platform, or book manuscript, or speaking schedule.

But I am His, and He says that makes me pretty fantastic.

And I’ve been talking with Him, and He’s going with me. He made the way for us to go, and we are in this together!

And I can’t wait to see what He has planned.

We’ll be talking about it the entire flight….

I’ll be begging Him for exactly what it is, that is best for me.

I’ll be asking Him to prepare the way,

to plan who I’ll meet,

and what I’ll say,

and what they’ll say,

and how I’ll learn and change and grow,

and be forever changed by this trip.

And in the pinnacle of the nervousness, when the moment of the first meeting is right before me, I’ve already got a plan and have rehearsed it in my mind…

It is me walking with Him, standing before these amazing women I admire so much (so much that I just may stand there and cry for lack of words and overwhelming emotion). And I won’t be standing there alone, He will be right there, right by my side.

And you know what is so astounding? They’ll be standing there with Him too, because He is also theirs. And we are kindred spirits in Him…us both loving Him who loves us so, and I’m thinking it is going to be pretty amazing and powerful!

So if you think of it, would you pray for me? As I drive to the airport, and board that plane, and fly through the sky, and land, and meet all of these virtual friends face to face. Pray for divine appointments. That I would SEE them. That I would hear from Him, learn from Him, and be used by Him…in incredible ways through this amazing trip. And pray that I would be able to boldly thank them in person (without too much blubbering) for modeling to me what it is to pursue Him with a whole heart.

I’d be so grateful for your prayers.

Have you ever finally met someone in real life that you had admired for a while? How did it go?

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