As I write this, I'm sitting alone in the empty church building. No one else is around.

It's quiet (other than the popping sound from the roof expanding and contracting).

And that's where it hit me. I love people.

There are no people here and the building seems oddly empty. Not just empty of people, but empty of meaning.

Now for those of you who know me well, and know that I am a fully-fledged, card-carrying, introvert-to-the-max, you might realize why that stunning thought, "hit me" with full force.

I love people.

I love people?

Really?

Yep. It is true.

Just recently I've had a few conversations with people that sort of "came out of the blue". I wasn't expecting it, and the invite to sit down came at an unexpected time and from an unexpected individual.

Who those people are, isn't really the point. The point is that I went away from those conversations so grateful. I was grateful that I get to engage with people at level of "real life". They were not looking for pat answers or "preacher wisdom", they just were struggling and needed someone to talk to. And they picked me! And I was honored.

Do you love people? Really?

For much of my life I took people for granted. I didn't really think I wanted to be around them.

Then I tried my hand at church planting. I had never done anything like that previously. Suddenly an office full of people didn't surround me. The demands of a larger church scaled way back! For much of the week I was alone.

I didn't like it.

(Well, to be completely honest, I did like it at first-but the isolation began to wear on me and take a toll).

I remember telling people that one day the UPS driver showed up with a package and I was so lonely that I just hugged the guy! I didn't. But I wanted to!

Do you love people?

If you do, wouldn't you want the people around you to know Jesus? Maybe the issue that is behind our lack of sharing Jesus with people, or sharing our faith, or even inviting someone to church, has more to do with the reality that we really just do not care.

I tell you the truth, this big empty building is not only empty of people, but it is empty of meaning-if you and I don't really love people.

 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away.

Jesus had compassion for people when others were ready to give up on people. How is your compassion quotient these days?

Will you pray that God would help you to love like Jesus? Would you pray that the broken, the lost, and the hurting experience the love of Jesus, in you and through you?