“I was with my friends at one of our favourite restaurants the other night. We had been there at least three hours when I noticed we were the last ones in the place. The employees were starting to stack chairs and vacuum the floors, and we were still talking. I was looking around the table at my wife, whom I just adore; our friend Shauna, who may be one of the best storytellers on the planet; Tom, whom I would take a bullet for; and Tom’s wife, Cecilia, who is one of the most loving, authentic people I have ever met. And I’m sitting in this restaurant looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacred-ness of the moment… You know what I’m talking about. Ordinary moments in ordinary settings that all of a sudden become infused with something else. With meaning. Significance. Hope.

I love this passage. It’s from Rob Bell’s book, Velvet Elvis (if you havent read it by now, go out and get it RIGHT NOW!) I have had so many moments sitting around a BBQ, or a pizza, or whatever else, when God has been so real to me it was like I could reach out and physically touch him. (Why do you think food is such an integral part of Alpha groups and Christianity Explored groups?)

I don’t do this enough. Creating opportunities for the everyday, ordinary moments to become holy. There is something so wonderful about sitting around a table with a group of your closest friends, eating, drinking, sharing, laughing…

It’s like Kyle Lake put it

Live. And Live Well.
BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now…

… At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.

And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life.

Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.