The single serving friend.

I love travelling; I really do, especially on trains. I also love the film Fight Club. Fight Club initially comes across as an overly violent 'man' film, however, underneath the surface of this flick is an open and honest look at some oft overlooked and neglected yet very fundamental elements of what it is to be human. I don't want to go into too much detail of the whole film as I just want to look at one aspect that is raised, the single serving friend.

The urban dictionary defines a single serving friend as "A 'friend' you meet once, for example on a plane, and never see again." It is a concept in which I find something profound about human existence, a particular need, a disposition, and it is something that is even biblical in my view. In the book of Acts, in the New Testament of the Bible, we get this story of a young disciple, a follower of Jesus, named Philip, and his experience of the single serving friend. Acts 8 v26-39 has Philip walking along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (approx 80km) where he meets the servant of the queen of Ethiopia, who had just left Jerusalem after worshiping at the temple. They spoke about Jewish scripture and about how that related to Jesus. That man asked to be baptised and become a disciple of Jesus himself. God then whisked Philip off and away to do some other stuff, and the Ethiopian man left happier than he’d ever been, he was rejoicing.

Now, I’m not saying we go out there with the express interest in winning converts, but I would love to urge us all, myself included, to be open to and aware of, when travelling, whether on foot, by train, on bus, or even when flying, other people around us. You might just make their day, it might just be that the very thing they need is a sympathetic ear, it’s always worth a try, and if it doesn’t work then there’s no loss, as you’ll most likely never see that person again.

I have so many stories I could tell you from my own life experiences on this subject but I’ve already gone on long enough. If you are interested then please feel free to drop me a line and I’ll be more than happy to talk.

My prayer for you is that you are open to other people and most important of all, that you are open to God.

Peace out, and God bless.

Adam.