Since it’s April this seems like the perfect month to introduce April Terry to you. We’re pleased to have April writing for our Ordinary Attempts blog once a week.

I asked April why she was drawn to our OA blog: “I have been OAing for a long time without having a name for it, and I think there is a kindness in an OA that speaks to me. An OA doesn’t have preconceived notions or labels about people. It doesn’t depend on whether or not it likes you. It listens, loves, and inspires. The OA blog encourages us to step forward without fear and connect with people. That’s a virtue that I would like to see spread everywhere.”

April and some of her friends have a ministry to convalescent homes. April told me “We do toe-tapping, fun Southern Gospel music and many of the old standards and we intentionally greet each senior before and after the service in order to allow for time to pray with them and for their specific needs.”

Here’s an experience April had which caused her to reflect on the OA opportunities we miss when we are too wrapped up in ourselves:

I ran into a pastor once at traffic school. I remember he had this stunned look on his face when I asked him where I knew him from. He went on to reluctantly admit that it was from a church just down the street. I had attended it once, but had not returned to it. He looked stunned as if he had been “caught” in the act of something.

He really shouldn’t have been embarrassed because I would more likely have been impressed with the idea of a speeding preacher and besides, I was there for the exact same reason. I always felt like he missed an opportunity there, though.

I wonder what I would’ve said if he had turned to me and said, “What would it take to get you to come back to my church?” I might’ve stammered and stuttered my way through some kind of explanation, but I would’ve respected him for it and I might even have returned someday.

Then again, I might’ve given him an honest answer and told him more about what I was looking for in a church. It might’ve helped him and me at the same time, but on that day we weren’t destined to get that real.

We never got that real because he wasn’t looking at me in an intentional way. He was blindsided by the all the other things on his mind. It’s likely he was thinking that I might live next door to Mrs. Mallory, and I might just tell Mrs. Mallory all about how I ran into her pastor last week at traffic school. Then, Mrs. Mallory might tell the choir that the Pastor has been speeding around town in the church van. Once the choir finds out, well, you can figure out the rest.

I think OA’s are just a way to get us to stop thinking about ourselves and what other people think about us and to start thinking about how we can help others.