Coffee with a friend this morning. We met at a local coffee shop, ordered his cappuccino and my black coffee, then went and sat in the Adirondack chairs across the street, and again spoke of theology, apologetics, history, church history, current events, and the gospel.

As I sipped my coffee and he sipped his cappuccino, we listened to each other, asked questions of one another, spoke of our love for our families, and of our churches.

My friend is bubbling with ideas, with questions, with intellectual curiosity. He is reading and thinking deeply. He is tender to truth. He is hungry for it.

I see myself in him, especially as I was years ago, when I was finding my way theologically and recognizing how God put men and women in my life at the right times to shepherd me and encourage me.

I hope to be such a person to him. I am so encouraged each Saturday morning by our time together. It is encouraging to enjoy kind and tender dialogue and discussion and depth in a culture that so often is characterized by acerbic tones, crassness, and a shutting down of depth and civility.

It’s a small thing–simple things like coffee and conversation. But I am confident that times like this sow seeds of hope and truth and kindness in a culture so often diminished by the lack of such small things.

Till next time.