Finding old friends

There are places I remember;
In my life, though some have changed.
Some for worse and some for better;
Some have gone, and some remain.
All these places have their moments,
with lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living;
In my life, I've loved them all.

I was walking from the bus station this morning, keeping my head down so the cold wind wouldn't reach my neck, when I noticed a friend from college. She was a bit older, but still clearly my old friend, so I called out her name. Immediately, she stopped and greeted me. She said she had thought she knew me, but dismissed the idea because I was still supposed to be in Washington, D.C. Anyway, turns out she's engaged to one of my Bible study friends--strange because I didn't know they really knew each other, but fitting, since these two really do make a nice couple, now that I think about it.

We (our Bible study group) had been sharing Christ with this girl for a while in college, and one day I was glad to hear she found a very good-sounding church. One month later, however, she didn't want to talk about Christianity at all. Turns out she had been inducted into Seattle's International Church of Christ (ICOC), which is notorious for its militant discipleship and manipulative church growth strategies. The experience turned her off to Christianity entirely.

Somewhat angered, I arranged a meeting with the ICOC campus leaders. Yes, they were zealous, but wrong. That meeting led me to research the ICOC more, and I was disappointed to find it resembled the church-planting movement I belonged to at that time, though with problems amplified. I compiled a report on the ICOC and presented it to one of our worldwide leaders at our summer camp, but he didn't respond with anything that assuaged my worries. Several months later, events occured that led to our group leaving that movement.

But history aside, I was really glad to see that girl today. She and her fiance, who I'd also lost contact with, are going to another church up north of Seattle. We'll have dinner sometime soon. I've been feeling good about this all day. God is good and works things out. Praise God.