day sixteen: college.ministry.friends.

Remember college life? Dorm rooms. Late night pizza. Spring Break. Eating at those "collegiate" restaurants, the ones that everyone went to with fairly decent food and usually plenty of it for not too much money. Remember how nice it was when a friend's parents took their son/daughter, you and others out to dinner? You could go to restaurants you didn't eat at very often, order whatever you like, and not have to worry about paying?

Ah yes...the life of a college student...

Our baby boy in Columbia. Someone's parents did come to town...and brought that someone with them.

Tonight I drove with Suzy and the baby to Columbia so she could go to dinner and celebrate a bachelorette party for a friend (although with a baby along for the ride and a husband who has to be at work the next morning, it's not the crazy night it may have once been). I dropped her off for dinner and took the baby to meet up with three college students from our church for dinner.

Alex, Jimmy, and Kevin are all sophomores at USC (that's the University of South Carolina, regardless of what some southern Californians and their lawsuit may say), and they've all grown up as a part of the church. Since they are in Columbia, we don't get to see them as much, so I thought a little man-date for dinner (my treat) would be a good way to catch up while I was in town.

We met at Tsunami, a sushi restaurant in the Vista area of Columbia that has a cousin in Greenville. The sushi was solid, per usual, and a great deal to boot - Happy Hour special: 3 six-piece rolls for $8.95. I thoroughly enjoyed just getting to hang out with these guys: not on a mission trip or trying to lead a Bible study, but just sitting around the table and talking. I'd love to say that the conversation was profoundly meaningful, or that we connected on a deeper level, or that I think they were affected by our dinner. But it wasn't, we didn't, and I don't. In fact, I don't even think we prayed before we ate.

Even so, in all the joking around and story-telling, through what may seem like superficial conversation, they may not have been affected...but I was. Because tonight I didn't feel like their minister...I felt like their friend. And it was around the table that I realized in many ways, in the best of cases, there's really no difference between the two.