"We Are A Blessed Club!" (1 John 3:1)

It is always a pleasant surprise to discover that I share a birthday with another person.

Several years ago, I was working in San Diego on my birthday. About once an hour, I received phone calls from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday.  My office was adjacent to another physician and because of this close proximity, our phone conversations could easily be overheard. She was also receiving several phone calls and her replies were similar to mine. “Oh thank you! Yes, nothing special….we are celebrating tonight!” or “Yeah, getting up there in years!”

Intrigued, I leaned over to her office, introduced myself and asked, “I couldn’t help hearing, but is it your birthday?” She smiled and said, “Yes...and I think it is yours as well?” It was an instant and welcome connection and we became closer professional colleagues over the next few months.

A similar but deeper connection occurred several years later. One of my dear sisters in Christ and I first began attending Palos Verdes Baptist Church on the same date, Mother’s Day, 2011. We also became members of the church on the same day and it was a short time after that, I discovered we shared the same birthday. For years, we have emailed and texted each other on our shared birthday. But this year, there was an additional surprise. She texted me and asked me if she knew that another close sister in our church also shared our same birthday? I was elated to discover this. She ended the text with, “We are a blessed club!”

Indeed we are.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

I John 3:1 (ESV)

Sharing the same birthday allows one to make a deeper, personal connection with the other. Like my professional colleague, it opened the door to a closer relationship. But with my two sisters in the church, we share a much deeper relationship, we do belong to a blessed club. We belong to the family of God, as brothers and sisters who are believers in Jesus Christ.

I am thankful and grateful for God blessing me so exceedingly abundantly by giving me a new life in Jesus Christ!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.