Just a Cup of Coffee

   The Reids were just sitting there, the two of them, alone at a table for six.  “Mind if I join you for coffee?” I asked.  It was just before Sunday morning church service.  I’m drawn toward first-time visitors if they are not being noticed or really being made to feel welcomed.  I’ve been to too many churches where I did not feel like I “belonged.”
   The Reids, Greg and Jocelyn, were from Superior and were caretaking an estate between there and Hayward, and had just come to visit our church.
   Over coffee, we had a wonderful conversation, like old friends.  They returned again, weeks later, and again we enjoyed fellowship over coffee.
   Weeks later, my wife, Grace, had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, close to Superior.  I was staying at a motel during this time, trying to get a grip on what was happening.
   The second day there, I got a call from Jocelyn, inviting me to stay with them.  I said I would have to think about it.  The next day, having not gotten back to her, she came up to the ICU section and approached me saying, “Jim, we would like you to stay with us!”  Still unsettled, still in a crisis mode, I said “yes.”
   That gift was a “Godsend.”  It was the start of building a real friendship.  That first sta ...

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