Some might say Marti’s DNA is all about relationships. But working together in pairs and groups is a part of all of our DNA. Relationships provide the support we need to thrive. They are always based on the connections that hold us all together.

I bond with our assistant pastor, Wayne Bridegroom and Director of Discipleship and Community, John Shirk via mutual experiences. My family is connected by emotional bonds. Shared interests create a bond with my friends. You might say personal relationships are everything in life.

Even social media offers opportunities to connect with hundreds, if not thousands of friends. For me, Zoom is the next best thing to being in the same room. Even texting is a quick and easy way to say hello.

So where do relationships begin? With rapport.

The other day, Marti and I were out to dinner. When I returned from the restroom as we were getting ready to leave, she was interacting with the woman at the next table over a side dish. “How was the cioppino?” Answering that question moved the conversation to a form of connecting, and then, before my eyes, an immediate rapport was evident between the two women. Within a very short time, they discovered an affinity for each other, resulting in the exchanging of their phone numbers to further cement a connection. 

I am afraid my evangelical training did not teach me to recognize people I do not know as potential living relationships. Rather, they were “projects” to try and convert. It will not surprise you that I made very few friends and hardly any converts among my non-Christian acquaintances. I was supposed to have very in little in common with non-Christians. Otherwise I would be like them and that would most certainly taint my witness.

Nothing like offering the Great Commission without discovering where we might connect, or how I might create a bond, like, “How was the cioppino?”

At the end of the day, what is a personal relationship? It’s any connection you may have to another human being — but it’s deeper than that. Personal relationships are what sustain and drive us. They just may be the very meaning of life.