The Gathering

What if God designed you specifically for friendship?

Tal tasted something beautiful at the Gathering—true community where there was acceptance and love for who Tal was, not just what could be accomplished. But then came the test every relationship faces: What happens when people let you down? When the very people who should understand you best use your story against you? When community becomes the source of pain rather than of healing?

If you haven't been here yet, you will be. You'll be hurt, let down, or rejected by someone you trusted. It is inevitable when humans get involved. And the temptation is clear: retreat. Build walls. Play it safe. After all, you can't be betrayed by people you don't trust. But...you also can't be loved by people you don't trust. We are tempted to choose lonely and "safe" over loved and vulnerable.

Jesus has a different invitation: repair rather than retreat. Not every relationship can or should be restored, but that is rare. It will require courage—the courage to be vulnerable again, to own your part, to believe that forgiveness could create something stronger than the original foundation.

This is the risky beauty of the Kingdom: we're called not to perfect relationships but to brave ones. Not to communities without conflict but to communities that can work through conflict. Not to people who never hurt us but to people who, when they do hurt us, are willing to fight for restoration. And on the other side, we discover this profound truth: the deepest friendships aren't built on the absence of wounds but on the presence of God's grace.

Reflection Questions:

1. When have you been hurt by someone you trusted? How did you respond?
2. When have you hurt someone else? How did you respond?
3. What makes repairing a relationship feel risky?
4. How might God be inviting you into deeper community, even if it means greater vulnerability?