Today I talked to a stranger. I spent the day ok, pretty good. It was a generally good day. I hung out with some friends. And it was just a normal Friday. But after 3 hours of hanging out, I had enough and I was ready to go home, but not really. I walked towards my bike and noticed a guy in a beanie that I had not seen before. I decided in the moment that I would talk to him. I walked up and said Hi, I’m Grace and I try to talk to one new person a day. Who are you?” Oh, I’m Alex. He said
We started talking about where we went to school and where we lived. He was a student at Berkeley and I told him I went to King’s. He lived across the street, which was why he was studying there. We soon discovered that we went to the same elementary school and middle school and that I was supposed to go to his high school. We realized we had something in common.
Soon we went on to talk about our school experiences, the differences and the similarities between them. We knew some of the same teachers as well. Sharing about our school experiences led us to talk about our lives. I shared about my story at Columbia, the suicide attempts, and the depression and anorexia. I went on to how I started healing and how the Lord led me to good places in my life. I shared about the road God put me on and the journey.
That led us to talking about God. It wasn’t forced, it was natural and deep. We discussed views on the Bible, Christianity, Catholicism, religion, my Christian school, service trips, and spirituality.
I shared about how God has changed my life. He shared about how he wanted to change other’s lives. We had the same goal. To help others.
But the amazing thing about all of this was that despite the cold, despite being strangers, despite a decade in age we talked about life. We were human together and shared ourselves. In 45 minutes, I learned more about Alex than I have learned about people I have known my whole life.
I hope I touched his heart. I hope this experience stays with us.
I hope he talks to strangers.