From Rachel

Hi, I'm Rachel. I live in San Diego with my husband, Beracah, and 2 kids - Liam (3) and Keavy (1). I work two days a week and get to stay home with my kids the other days. We attend a local church and have gotten to know some of our neighbors because of it. This is a story of last Tuesday; it's an example of what we have been doing to move toward making disciples.

I am a "do-er" by nature, meaning it is pretty uncomfortable for me to not have plans or a list of things to accomplish in my day. Last Tuesday, we didn't have plans or a list, so we did what all Moms who need to get out of the house do...headed to Target. The moment we stepped out our door we saw our neighbor friends from church (mom and 2 kids) playing on the grass, they had the flu, so we kept our distance but offered to pick some stuff up for them at Target. Great! Now I had some purpose.

Then we drove the slow way to Target, through the neighborhood, mostly because I like the trees. Then we saw our other friends (a mom and son) who were out for a walk. We had met them at church once; but something offensive happened and they didn't want to go to church after that... they have some history of being hurt in church... long story but you get the gist. We pulled over and chatted with them, got a play date on the books which I had been meaning to do for a while; both of us were pretty encouraged to see each other.

Fast forward... after Target we went to drop off the stuff for our sick neighbors and bumped into another mom and 2 kids that have become our very good friends. They are part of our community group through church. They are not believers yet and have not read the Bible yet. We said hey and I thought something was a little off but couldn't put my finger on it; I was going to see that mom that very evening for Bible study. Turns out, she was struggling with panic attacks that day and was going to skip Bible study, but allowed me to pick her up and we drove together.

Okay that was a lot... here is what I am thinking from all this: 1. Having no plans and no list leaves room for these interactions; 2. I am attracted to the people on the fringes at church (the hurt, the skeptics) - seems like if I slow down - those are the ones I feel drawn to; 3. I do a lot more play dating, eating meals with, and getting things at the store for my neighbors/friends than any formal Bible study or discipling. We have lived in our neighborhood for three years now and we just started getting to read the Bible with some of them... and I'll be honest I Amazoned a Bible to that mom three years ago after our first play date together when I found out she didn't have one and wanted one... I wondered if anything would ever come of it.

This group has helped me not get lost in the waiting. The Union has kept me thinking about these things even when I could see no fruit. I hope we continue to encourage each other this way. We are really grateful for you all.