This morning I did something that is outside of my comfort zone.  It actually started in late March.  One of the people I follow on Twitter and am friends with on Facebook was travelling to D.C. for a conference.  He was asking on Twitter/Facebook about travel options from Dulles Airport to D.C.  Since he was coming in on a Monday (my day off), I took a chance and sent him a message on Facebook saying I could pick him up and drive him to his hotel in D.C.  That way he wouldn’t have to take the bus to the Metro and then Metro to the nearest stop to his hotel.  I also thought it would be cool to grab some breakfast on the way. He said it sounded like a good idea, so we decided to do it.  Early this morning I drove to Dulles Airport and met Adam for the first time in person.

You might be thinking, “That doesn’t sound too bad.”  And you’d be right.  However, this was a big deal for me because I am an introvert and something like this is way outside my comfort zone.  While I felt like I knew Adam pretty well through our virtual friendship, I still felt a little awkward/shy when meeting him early this morning for the first time.  Despite the lack of sleep on both our parts, I felt like everything went pretty well.  He’s more outgoing than I am, so between the two of us we were able to keep the conversation going.  We had a good breakfast at McLean Family Restaurant and a good drive into D.C.  Adam turned out to be a pretty cool guy (which was what I expected) and I enjoyed hanging out with him this morning.

So, why did I do this?  I felt like it would be a good challenge for me to stretch my comfort zone some.  I thought it would be nice to show some good hospitality to a fellow pastor.  I thought it would be great to meet a virtual friend in person.  And, I was right on all three counts.