I woke up this morning smiling. I got to spend 3 hours with a 21st century friend last night. Let me explain.

We met in 2016 by way of the land of phone conference calls. He lives in Ohio; I live in Florida. We took some coaching classes together and have pursued friendship since. What other century has afforded humans such interaction? Thus, a 21st century friend. Which leads me to think about the guy I wrote about in my last blog post.

We met by Zoom. He lives in Wisconsin. Odds are you’ve never heard of what he does. He is a Virtual Reality pastor for his church. No kidding. I kept saying to him, “This isn’t why we’re talking, but I have so many questions.” No other century has imagined humans going to church virtually. Which leads me to think about conversations I had earlier this week with a friend in Jordan.

We met…wait for it…in person. Six years ago I traveled to Jordan twice with a few folks from our church to provide services for Iranian and Syrian refugees. That’s where I met Homero, who by the way is Brazilian. On that trip I was introduced to What’sApp. I had no choice in order to connect with our airport shuttle driver; that was her means of communicating. So since then, Homero and I occasionally connect from wherever he is in the world through means of an app. What other century has allowed instantaneous conversation with anyone anywhere in the world? Which brings me back to last night with my Ohio friend.

We were on a walk towards ice cream after eating dinner on St. Armands Circle. We were passing a store, guessing by the window display, was some kind of gift shop. But a sign by the door included ice cream and baklava. I said, “Hey, I have to go in here. I’ve never seen this place.” I ended up walking out with more Turkish baked goods than one human should purchase. More about that later.

Come to find out, the sales clerk encouraging my baked goods splurge just arrived in the U.S. three months ago from Turkey. “I came to America to get my PhD in climate change and to reap the benefits of what’s possible here so I can return home to help my country.” He shared his story in pretty good English. Imagine our shock when he said he didn’t speak English when he left Turkey. To explain his amazing 3-month-English-speaking capacity, he said, “I watch YouTube.”

Thinking about all four of these connections makes me smile. Here’s to the 21st century, and all the friends it affords!