And your name is???

I attended a LINDA Luncheon yesterday -- I had not been able to attend any of them since the national LINDA Convention in July so I was anxious to catch up with friends! It's amazing how a 'name' can connect you! All of us (except for two) were Linda's yesterday. I always get amused at restaurant personnel when they catch on to the fact that we all have the same name. We usually get either, "You really are ALL named Linda" .. or "You must be one of the Linda's!"

We have established close friendships. Linda Chapman (on the right in the photo at left) attended her first luncheon about a year and a half ago. We're sort of a rowdy bunch (no comments), lots of laughter and trying to all talk at the same time -- must be a "Linda" thing. Linda Chapman arrived and didn't have much to say. I won't share some of the topics that we discussed since it had to do with the upper part of the female body and I'm not sure who all reads this. Suffice it to say, another Linda compared herself to Linda Chapman and a smile began to appear on her face. She shared that her husband had died suddenly of a heart attack a couple months before and she was really struggling with that. I assured her that part of what we do as "Linda's" is to be of support to each other. Let's just say that before that lunch was over, she was 'one of us' and had laughed herself almost silly!! Her sister-in-law (another Linda and part of the LINDA organization for years) was so thrilled that she had connected -- and she's as crazy as the rest of us so she was sure Linda Chapman was in good hands!! That began a neat friendship -- especially for me since she is a committed Christian!

Linda Callahan (on the left in the photo on left) has a grandson, Jake, 5, who has Downs Syndrome. Yesterday, she brought a studio photo of her , Jake and Jake's younger brother, 2. We have shared in her celebration of various milestones in Jake's life -- he was written up in the newspaper not long ago -- and we all wanted to see that!

Linda Swafford (on far right in photo above) grew up in my old stomping ground -- I grew up in the Quad Cities area (Rock Island, IL) and she spent most of her growing up years in Muscatine, IA (across the river near Davenport, IA.) Her father has been ill, as mine has, so we have shared both in our luncheons and by email the various challenges we have had!!

Linda Proux (second from left) had back surgery -- and we all encouraged her each time we were together -- that we were praying for her and anxious for her to go to the national convention, which she did! And what a time we had there.

The Linda on the far left I haven't seen real often -- we attended my first convention 2-1/2 years ago but didn't get to go the past two years. So, it was neat to catch up -- and it's interesting that it seemed like we just took up where we left off.

While we don't know lots about each other's lives, we know enough to make us feel connected. And we all share one thing -- our name. No one seems to be a stranger when we arrive -- we all know each other's name and who we are or where we are from doesn't really matter.

I thought how it is or should be with Christians or 'Christ followers'. We share a 'name' .. we should not feel like strangers! We should feel like we belong when we meet! I want to be known more as a "Christ follower" than as a "Linda" because in the end, that is what will count!!