Last month I went to Nashville to visit my friend Wendy. The first flight available to return to Lynchburg was early Monday evening. Since Wendy and her husband Curtis were both working, I used the day to meet several people from Twitter.

In real life.

That’s the beauty of social media. Twitter, Facebook and the like make the world smaller.

My first tweetup was for coffee on Monday morning, July 20th with Steve Grossman. Steve and I have been communicating via Twitter for more than a year now. First and foremost, Steve is a Christ-follower who is deeply committed to his marriage. He’s also a growth-minded business professional working in the automotive industry. Like me, Steve is fascinated by the opportunities that social media brings. Just a few days before we met, Steve and his teenage son participated in a motorcycle safety course. During coffee, our conversation meandered naturally from business to family to faith to social media and every topic in between. And it was very comfortable because we’ve been having similar, though shorter conversations, via Twitter.

Towards the end of our coffee meeting, Steve and I were joined by the lovely Amy Halleran, another Twitter friend. Amy and I first shared stories last summer, initially via tweets and then by phone. Amy was in the middle of a divorce and I was able to offer some encouragement, having been there/done that myself. It was great to connect with her in real life and hear about the next phase of her journey. Amy actually drove me to my next tweetup, in her mommy car complete with two car seats in the back. Been there. Done that too. :-)

I met Pam Case and was pleasantly surprised to meet Kris Seidenkranz as well. The three of us had lunch at Lifeway, outside on a beautiful, sunny day. Pam and I had only connected recently, at the recommendation of a friend. I’m so very thankful! It was such fun to hear what Pam, Kris and the Lifeway Women team are doing and how God is using those two ladies to impact women around the globe. I’m not sure who has worse ADHD, Pam or me. Our conversation was all over the place, just the way I like it! (I was so caught up in conversation that I completely forgot to take a picture!)

After lunch, I began walking from Lifeway to the Nashville Chamber office, downtown. I started getting a little hot from the midday heat when a giant cloud came overhead and followed me. Somehow, I never really gave much thought to the story of God providing a cloud by day for the people of Israel, until that day. The shade overhead was a welcome relief and a reminder of God’s presence.

I spent a few more minutes with my Vital Friend, Wendy. It was great to see her work space and meet many of her colleagues. After that, she drove me to Thomas Nelson for my last tweetup of the day, where I had the privilege of meeting Michael Hyatt (and briefly Lindsey Nobles and Joel J. Miller).

I stumbled across Mike on Twitter more than a year ago, after doing an ego search for my family name – Hyatt. Mike is a CEO who intrigues me because he absolutely understands the power of social media to engage people. In real life, just like on Twitter, he is a gifted communicator and is very gracious. It was a thrill to be at Thomas Nelson and to see the books of authors I’ve read for years. I suppose in some ways it would be similar to an avid golfer visting the Augusta National during the Masters tournament (did I mention I’m from Augusta?), or a tennis player enjoying Wimbledon from Center Court.

Following my visit with Mike, he tweeted this:

I think he’s right. Short of divine intervention, in days before social media, it is very unlikely that I would have had the opportunity to meet seven such awesome people, all in the same day.

Tonight I learned from a tweet, that a Twitter friend was facing a difficult situation. Within just a few hours people from all over the world were praying for this young lady and her family. Indeed, the world is getting smaller with every tweet.

How has social media made your world smaller? Please share your story in the comments section.

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