I know you!

Do you ever have those moments when you meet someone and you just know you've met them before? People think they have already met me a lot of times--I must have a very common looking face. But, it's not often that I meet someone that I know I met before and not remember.

Mom told me that when I was a baby, she and I were in a grocery store and I saw a man. I immediately smiled and held my hands out to him to pick me up. She said I could not keep my eyes off of him and it was apparent that I recognized him. What made this even more unusual was the man was a black man--and I had shown fear of black men in the past. Mom loved to tell the story of when I was a child and saw a black man and screamed "A monster, Mommy!" while pointing to him.

Once when I was in a store, the cashier recognized me and immediately began talking to me about the party we attended the weekend before. I didn't know her and had not attended a party the weekend before, but thought I'd just have some fun. I made non-committal noises until she realized that I was not who she thought I was.

Recently, I went to Cincinnati to do a presentation. We met with potential clients and their brokers. While I was shaking hands with one of the brokers, we both asked simultaneously, "How do I know you?" I recognized her as someone that I had met and spent a little time with, but didn't "hang out"with her. I thought that that meant I knew her from a church function. So I asked her, "Are you LDS?" When she looked puzzled, I realized that she is NOT Mormon and so I explained that if she didn't know what that meant, she isn't. I let her know I was Mormon and thought maybe we knew each other from church. We never did solve the puzzle of our acquaintance. Our paths have never crossed in educational or professional pursuits. But, I still think I know her somehow.

How does this happen? I'm sure that sometimes it is simply a matter of looking like someone else. But, how do you explain those instances when they aren't? For example, when little children seem to recognize a stranger. I've always been told it was a "spiritual recognition." Perhaps that is it. I know that I've felt a connection to someone (not necessarily recognizing them, but feeling that instant connection) and wondered if that connection started pre-mortally.

I wonder and hope that the same experience will happen when I see Jesus. I want to exclaim, "I know You!" Afterall, He knows me and His eyes will have that light of recognition when we meet again.