It wasn't an everyday experience. I went shopping today with my brother and sister. Going shopping is rare enough. With my brother and sister, it's close to unprecedented. It was just the three of us, but it was nice to spend time with them. Not that it took long. We went to just one store, with one item in mind, and with about an hour's worth of time.
I needed some new shoes. The soles of mine are starting to fall off. It's one of those things with shoes: You think they're fine, but then you look down one day and notice there's not much of them left.
We went to Sports Authority. The place was almost closed for the night. We were pretty much the only shoppers there. The employees probably were relieved, especially after Black Friday. That's where I found someone to pray for.
He was a tall blonde guy, highly athletic-looking and maybe 25 years old at the most. A sharp contrast from me, who probably doesn't belong in a sporting goods store. He was working on some stuff in the golf section, a vast expanse of clubs and other items, empty of people. So that was good.
I asked if I could pray for him. He looked at me a little strange, uncomfortable with the question, but determined to play it cool. "Pray for me? Why." I was honest: "It's just something I like to do for someone every day, and today, you're it." He smiled and kept putting things on the shelves. "Why am I it?" he asked. Again, I had to be honest: "Because I'm about to go home and you're probably the last person I'm going to see today." (I was basically admitting he was picked by default. Not exactly divine selection ... unless it is.)
But he smiled again at this and said it would be OK. So I just bowed my head and prayed. I noticed he stopped working for those few seconds. It was a short prayer. Later we chatted a little bit about the busy shopping season. Yesterday, he was at work at 4:30 a.m. in time to open the doors at 5 a.m. A line of about 100 people were at the door then. I was glad I had been sleeping.
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