Kids grow up hearing the common statement “Don’t talk to strangers.” So we grow up avoiding the people who we do not know. We stand in lines and don’t talk to the people around us, we see people sitting on benches and we don't say hello. Worse, we pass by the homeless without a second look. We avoid the people in the world we do not know. This, however, could not be further from what God intended. God's word states, "You are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers even though they are just strangers to you." (3 John 1:5)

But why would God want us to talk to strangers? The answer lies below.

“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7)

That’s right my friend, God knows you to the core. He knows every desire of your heart, every detail of your life. He has even counted every hair on your head. It is pretty amazing. But, he doesn’t just know and care about you, He thinks the same about that stranger sitting next to you too. Listen when I say: God has never known a stranger.

God thought of that stranger over there before they were born.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1:5)

He loves them.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." (Ephesians 2:4-5)

He even died for them.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

I am a big believer of how actions speak louder than words. So, because I believe talking to strangers is what God desires, I put it to the test. I prayed to God to send me a stranger with an amazing story. God did not disappoint.

This strangers name was Paul.

Paul is an old man. He has a long beard and his eyes have this twinkle because the Holy Spirit is about to burst out of him. Paul has been a missionary for over 25 years. But he is not just any missionary, he is a missionary through art. Paul travels to college campuses with a giant sheet in tow. On this sheet he lets the students color anything they want. Paul loves art and people, but more than that, Paul loves Jesus.

After meeting Paul, I talked to him for three hours that day. I watched him talk to people he did not know. All just friends he had not met yet. He would ask them about their day, he never forced the Gospel on them. When they asked why he was here he just said, “I am a Christian missionary trying to share the love of Jesus Christ through art.” Then he would just smile.

I asked Paul how many people God had saved through his art. He said he did not know. He said he was only here to plant seeds, someone else could have his harvest.

So people would leave. But they left loved and they left known. Paul said he had no money, but he was the richest person you would ever meet. He was rich because Jesus loved him and allowed him to meet strangers.

You, my friend, can be the richest person in the world too. Because that stranger over there is not a stranger at all, just a friend you have not met yet.