Day 30: Khaki shorts

He was an older guy who had the air of a businessman. He must have had the night off. Or perhaps he was retired. He was walking straight down the street like he had some place to go, maybe meeting friends for dinner. He was wearing khaki shorts and a white polo shirt and sandals. He had wrap-around black sunglasses and white hair.

As he walked he was looking rather intently at the buildings around him, and he generally avoided eye contact with me for the half-block we spent walking toward each other. I greeted him, and he walked on by at first. So I stopped and said, not too loudly, “Sir.” He stopped abruptly and leaned in to hear me ask my question. He didn’t seem even to look at me. Instead, he looked at the ground, considering my request. And then, with resolution, “No, I do that myself.” Without another word, he walked away.

It was a curt response. But as I walked back through Old Town, I thought it was a reasonable one. Anyone would hesitate if a stranger stopped him on the street and asked to pray for him. And it would be understandable to refuse. He may have been thinking: What if this guy’s some nutcase? And I decided that I shouldn’t judge his response, one way or the other. God knows what’s in his heart.

But this simple interaction – it lasted 15 seconds, maybe – spawned perhaps more questions than any other during this past 30 days. Something about his response made me think about the personal nature of prayer, like I’d crossed some boundary of privacy. Maybe I did. Some people like to keep their faith private.

But I guess I’m coming to understand that God doesn’t intend for our faith to be something we keep bottled up. We’re to live it – anywhere and everywhere we go. We should make it contagious. And we should build each other up every chance we get.

Another thought came to my mind. That question I’ve been asking – “May I pray for you?” – is a powerful one. Because at its heart is one that’s even more powerful in a very personal and fundamental way: “Do you believe?”

Scripture: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10