For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” – Matthew 18:20

Rebekah and I have been part of many dinner groups in our four years here in Wake Forest. We haven’t missed a single rotation of the Koinonia initiative, we’re going to be all in when it shifts to “meet-and-eat” in the New Year, we show up at almost every party we’re invited to, and we value every opportunity we have to break bread together.

Simply put, it’s impossible to know everyone in this church as well as we’d like to – but we’re willing to give it a try, and the intimacy of a shared meal is one of the best ways we know to invest ourselves in these beautiful lives.

There were nine in our most recent church dinner group, and we had our fifth and final meal together Sunday evening. Everyone does their absolute best when it comes to cooking, and the meal was – once again – memorable. Great conversation comes naturally, and there is always a lot of laughter as we share on a deep level from our lives.

My “dig a little deeper” question this time was to do with bucket lists. I wanted to hear what dreams our friends are chasing…. so I asked a two-part question: “Share a bucket list item you have checked off fairly recently, and then one you feel may have slipped out of your reach for one reason or another…?”

Around that table – marathons have been run, mountains climbed, families loved, muscle cars driven, novels written, and countries visited. Then, looking into the future, we realized that nothing is really out of our reach. Sure, my desire to hike up Mount Kilimanjaro may be pushing it just a little, but it doesn’t matter how old we are, or how ambitious our dreams, we are all engaging life with purpose and belief and the kind of vitality that comes from the knowledge that we are children of the Living God!

“Don’t forget,” Rebekah’s dad, Bob Alexander, used to say on a regular basis. “Don’t forget who you are, and don’t ever forget whose you are!.”

So thanks, Dianne, Hugh, Lucy, Robert, Diedra, Mandy, Jim; Rebekah and I had a great time. I’m looking forward to our next dinner, lunch, cup of coffee, party, celebration… with our church friends. The more we know them, the more we love them.

Peace, and more – Derek