I suppose everyone has a different number; and real extroverted people might strive for 1,000,000; and a true introverted person might want 6. I don't know, but no matter what number, we're all in this together one way or another.
And there's so many different kinds of relationships. There's intimate relationships; there's business relationships; there's family relationships; there's casual or intentional; there's good one and bad ones. So many different, different kinds.
Have you ever had one of those experiences that are a "6 Degrees of Separation" type thing? I remember once my wife and I checked into a hotel room in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and when we first got to the room, the phone was ringing. My wife picked up the phone, nodded yes a few times, and then hung up the receiver. "We have to go back to the front desk," she said, "they want to give us another room."
On arriving at the front desk, they did indeed give us another room, for free, and for up to three days if we wanted it. (We were only traveling through.) This hotel gave pastors a free room for up to three days, and they wanted Chris and I to use it. We did, and as I was getting the key from the front desk clerk, I asked how they knew I was a pastor? I never register as a pastor; nor, do I dress in khaki.
The clerk looked and me and said I looked familiar when he was checking me in, but it wasn't until we were on our way up to our room that he remembered how he knew me. I had done his cousin's wedding at our church the previous summer, and that's how he knew I was a pastor. Small world...
...But many, many relationships. And that's the point of Christian faith. Faith is the "regal relationship" (Joseph Sittler) that we have with God, and through our relationship with God we are in relationship with all the rest of the universe. I love keeping track of relationships in this world, and I'm excited to see what relationships there might be in the next. I am grateful for my faith.
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