relationship with God?”
“I think it’s pretty good, why?” Kat replied.
“Mmm hmm, and how are your relationships with people?” Susan asked.
“I guess it depends on which people you’re talking about…” Kat said, somewhat unsure.
“Katherine Driggers,” Susan’s voice got maternal again, “besides me in the past hour or so, who would you say you feel really close to?”
Kat thought for a moment, then replied, “No one.”
“Every man you meet is not just interested in your looks,” Susan began, “and every woman you meet is not your competition. You do church ministry stuff, and that’s great, but you don’t really notice the people.” Susan took hold of Kat’s hand and went on, “You have to care about the people, honey. They have dreams, and they have hopes, and they have fears… just like you. When you start caring about them more than just how they see you, then I think you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
Kat looked down and nodded. “Thanks Susan, I’m sure it’s not easy to tell me that.”
Susan smiled big and said, “You’re welcome honey, I’m sure it’s not easy to hear it.”
“Hey,” Kat suddenly perked up, “can I hang out with you at the Night of Outreach tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Susan assured her, “I’d be honored.”
With that, the two friends hugged and Kat went out to her car while Susan turned to help another customer. Getting into her car, Kat turned on the ignition and sat for a minute while the car warmed up. As she looked at herself in the rearview mirror, she noticed her mascara running again. “Seriously?” she said out loud. Sighing, she fixed her makeup again and then sat back in her seat. “God,” she said, looking up into the night sky, “thank you. Thank you for Susan, thank you for life lessons, thank you for loving me. Just… thank you.”
As she drove home, Kat felt like she had a whole new perspective. She wondered what God would be teaching her next.
CHORUS 1
(The Night of Outreach)
The Sunday morning service went particularly well, Mark had picked some truly inspirational songs to go with Pastor Jerry’s message. Kat Driggers’ voice soared, and Mark noticed that her attire was a little more conservative than usual. He thought he saw her eyes well up during “Ever Be”, but Kat never lost composure - must be allergies. The Williams brothers kept the pre-service shenanigans to a minimum and Ted Kinney was musically prepared as usual. No surprises, just the way Mark liked it.
That evening though, was the “Night of Outreach”. Renaissance Church liked to plan a few of these every year, and the Christmas version was often the biggest blessing because it often seemed people were more ‘in need’ this time of year.
As the full body of the church gathered in the community room, people were set up like an assembly line. At the start of the assembly line, someone would open up a paper bag that the children had colored in Sunday school that morning, and place a gift card in it. The gift cards were just $10 toward gas or groceries. They would then pass the bag to the next person who would place in it a plastic sandwich baggie of sweets that the congregation had brought in earlier (cookies or brownies). They would then pass the bag to the next person who would place either a scarf and hat or small blanket in. Most of these were donated by local merchants, but the church had bought several dozen to make up the difference. After that, the last stop for the bags was to put in a card describing that this was a blessing from Renaissance Church and the church hoped to see them at the Christmas service or any Sunday morning.
The elders and deacons divided up the bags into a dozen or so groups, then each leader took a group to a predetermined location to hand out the blessings. Every year the amount of bags going out increased as the church grew and as local merchant support grew. This year they had about 400 bags to give out. One thing that Mark always thought was kind of cool was that the elders had asked the church not to just “look for poor people” to give the bags to, but to let the Lord lead them. Sometimes the neediest people were those who were spiritually poor, even if not financially so.
Some of the congregation went out to gas stations and handed out bags, some went to grocery stores. Some people went to Fire Departments and Police Departments, and some people just walked around neighborhoods handing bags out to anyone who happened to be walking by.
Kat was with a group that went to a grocery store. As she was waiting by the front doors, she saw what looked like a middle-aged gentleman walking out the doors. She caught his eyes and spoke up. “Umm, hi!” she said somewhat unsure. “So, I’m from Renaissance Church, and we just want to give you a blessing this season.” She handed him the bag and finished, “There are some goodies in the bag, as well as an invitation to come visit our church sometime.”
Cody Lane was somewhat taken aback. Wasn’t Renaissance the same church Mark was worship pastor at? “Uh, thanks. Say... is your worship pastor named Mark Flanders?” he asked.
Pleasantly surprised, Kat replied “Yes he is! Do you know Mark?”
“Oh yeah,” Cody replied, “Mark and I go way back.”
“That’s great!” Kat perked up, more confident now. “You should come visit us some time; do you have a home church?”
“Um… not really,” Cody said. “Mark has invited me several times, but the… timing has never been right.”
After an awkward pause, Kat picked back up, “Yeah… I sing on the praise team so I know Mark pretty well myself.”
“Really...” Cody followed, “I used to play guitar on a praise team.”
“Really...” Kat mimicked, “We could use another guitar player on the praise team.”
“Hmmm…” Cody smiled.
“Mmm Hmmm…” Kat smiled back. “Well, listen, I have to finish giving out these bags, but I would love to see you at Renaissance sometime. The service times are listed on the card in your bag, but I’m sure Mark can tell you whatever else you need to know.”
As Kat turned and started back to her group, Cody blurted out, “Hey, um, can I get…”
Kat stopped and turned back around, her eyebrow slightly raised in anticipation of the question.
“Ummm… your name… so I can tell Mark…” Cody stammered.
“It’s Katherine Driggers, Kat for short,” Kat smiled again. “And you are?”
“Cody... Cody Lane. Pleasure to meet you Kat.” Cody was able to muster. He held his hand out and Kat shook it.
“Pleasure to meet you Cody,” Kat said. “I’ll tell Mark I saw you.”
With that, Kat went back to her group and got another bag. She stood there for a second waiting for her next opportunity. When she looked across the parking lot and saw Cody still standing there smiling, she waved. Cody quickly stopped smiling, suddenly realizing the awkwardness of the situation.
“Smooth…” he muttered to himself as he got his keys out of his pocket and headed for his car. “What’s the matter Lane, never seen a pretty girl before?”
Cody got into his car and started the engine. He sat there for a moment as he waited for it to heat up, and he opened up the paper bag to look inside. He pulled out the card that gave the service times and looked it over. Then he grabbed a pen out of his glove compartment and wrote down “Kat Driggers” on the card. Cody looked in the bag again and got out the baggie of cookies. He opened up the baggie and pulled out a cookie, taking a bite. As he dug into the bag again, he looked across the parking lot at Kat and her church group. Cody held the cookie in his mouth as he put everything back into the paper bag and set it on the passenger seat. Then he buckled the seat belt and popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth before putting the car in gear and pulling out of the parking lot.
As he pulled out onto the road, Cody turned on the car radio and heard a rock song playing. He glanced down at the radio for a second and hit the scan butto
n. A country song came on, and Cody quickly hit the scan button again. This time, he heard a song he was unfamiliar with, which was odd because Cody was very up to date on music and listened to many genres. Something about this song was different. Was it the chord progressions? Was it the singer’s voice? Something about it gave Cody a chill.
Cody listened to the rest of the song on the short drive home. As it ended, a DJ voice came over the radio saying, “...you’re listening to new music here on Air Grace…” Air Grace? That was Christian music? When did Christian music become cool? Cody listened as the next song started, but he was pulling into his driveway at this point. He turned off the car and sat there for a moment looking at the paper bag in the passenger seat. Finally, he pulled out his phone and shuffled through the contacts until he found Mark’s number.
Mark was in a different location still handing out bags with his group. He was talking to one of the group members he hadn’t met before while he waited for people to walk by. “So how long have you been attending Renaissance?” he asked her.
“My boyfriend and I have been going for about six months now,” she said, “and I absolutely love it. Especially opportunities like this to serve people in the community.”
“Six months you say?” Mark pondered aloud. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before tonight, are you involved in any ministries?”
“Not yet.” she replied. “I’m