The Side Benefit of God's Pursuit

Carlos met Nicole at a local hangout at the University of Calgary last week and they hit it off. He asked for her number and she gave it to him. But he wrote it down wrong, so when he tried to call her later that evening, the number was rejected. He was heartbroken. But the guy wouldn’t give up. He pulled up his school directory and emailed every Nicole he could find, 247 of them, in a mass email, with the subject line, “Nicole from last night.”

In that email, he wrote, “If you don't fit this description then ignore, and if you are the one and just don't want to talk to me, that's OK as well.” He used Cc (instead of Bcc), so all of the Nicoles received each others' email addresses. Some of them thought it was funny and “replied all,” starting an email chain, which eventually led to a Facebook group. They started meeting up in person and many of them are now a group of close friends. All because Carlos wouldn’t give up after writing the phone number down wrong.

But…the Nicole he was looking for didn’t get the email. She was one of the few in the school he didn’t have access to. But she heard about the group from some other friends, joined it, and then reached out to Carlos. They went out just a couple of nights ago. Way to go Carlos!

I love that, “don’t give up,” attitude. Carlos knew what he wanted and went after it. The aftermath led to some really good friendships.

And I think of God’s pursuit of us. Despite our sin and rebellion and the roadblocks we put up, he did not give up. He pursued us with reckless abandon, and I’m so glad he did. None of us would have sought him on our own.

But a really cool side benefit for me has been a plethora of friends I’ve become connected to in the process. Jesus didn’t just reach out to me. He saved me to be part of his family. And now, I have lifelong relationships with people I will enjoy for eternity.

The Nicoles at Calgary owe their friendships to Carlos and his pursuit of a girl.

I owe my best friendships to Jesus and his pursuit of me, along with the others who also responded. I’m so glad to be part of the family of God!