Do you not know that you are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
—1 Corinthians 3:1
“This is my church,” said the young man who’d joined me at the workout station by the shore. “I always have conversations like this at the pull-up bar.”
It’s true: You never know who you’re gonna meet when you step outside your doorway. The beach has provided a number of friendships lately, but this one in particular took a quick and deep dive into biblical discussions.
One thing I’ve noticed since opening the Bible is the immediate communal bond with those seeking answers through the same text that has connected mankind for more than a thousand years.
Whether or not the things in that book are true, whether or not the text has been used to justify evil, whether or not it causes cultures to divide, there’s something to be said about the connections it’s spurred across space and time.
Friendships have been a theme coming up in meditations lately, and I’ve been asking God to send more of them my way. This felt like a prime example of “ask and you shall receive.” I may never see that fella again, but it’s a good reminder that some friendships last a lifetime, while others last the duration of a conversation. Either way, I’m grateful for all of them.
I never saw the pull-up bar as a “church” before, but I suppose any reason for people with similar interests to gather and strike up conversations about God could be considered a “church” of sorts. After all, it’s the people who make up the church, not some empty building lined with candles and gold. The house of God is more like a tent we each carry on our backs that can be pitched anywhere we please.
So here’s to you, random pull-up guy, and building churches, one rep at a time.