Day 40: 'That's awkward'

She was sitting in Old Town, clearly a student of some sort. She was maybe 20 years old and sitting against a building, probably waiting for someone. I stopped in front of her and asked if I could ask her a question. "OK," she said, clearly suspicious and moving her bag closer to her. "Can I pray for you?" She thought this was a very odd question. Her face said it all. "Why?" And then she added quickly: "I'm not homeless."

I thought that was funny. A good clarification, but not really necessary. "I don't think you are homeless," I said, as cheerfully as I could. "But I just like to pray for people, and I'd like to pray for you." She paused again at this. "Well, I guess that's OK," she said. So I told her I would pray for her right then, and she immediately reapplied the brakes. "No," she glanced around. "That's awkward." So I looked around, too. There wasn't a soul in sight. Not one person at that moment. And this was a Friday evening. "Look," I said, "I don't know you, and you don't know me. So why don't you just let me pray for you?" She hemmed and hawed then, and finally said, "No. I'm not comfortable with that."

This whole time she was very pleasant. But she was clearly put off guard, and she didn't quite know what to make of me. The request was very out of the blue for her. I think she knew I wasn't crazy -- at least I wasn't dressed like a crazy person and didn't talk like a crazy person. But she just couldn't bring herself to the point of letting someone pray for her in public. And she kept asking why I would want to do that for her.

So I pointed down the street. "OK, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to walk down that street and back to the place that I work. And while I'm doing that, I'll say a prayer for you. It will just be between me and God. But it will be about you. OK?" She reluctantly agreed, even though she had no choice. And so I thanked her and left, smiling all the way back to the office.