Saturday, May 28, 2011

Day 286: What's the catch?

He was in his 30s, probably, a guy with a goatee and a ball cap, standing next to a four-door sedan, looking at his cell phone. I stepped over to ask him my question. He just looked at me. There was that typical silence, and then, "Oh." I thought maybe he said something more, so I asked him what he'd said. "Oh," he repeated.

What proceeded from there was one of the most sluggish conversations I've ever had. In very slow words, he asked, what I was doing. So I told him about my project. And then, again slowly, "What's the catch?" I told him there was no catch. I just wanted to pray for him. It would take just 10 seconds. Again, there was a pause. His eyes kind of wandered off in the distance, and I began to wonder whether he ever would answer. But he had to answer -- I was standing right there, waiting.

So I told him he could say no. That's not an option I usually have to offer up to someone. Normally, they come up with that on their own. Then he rubbed his forward, and said, "Well, no, I'm tired right now." That was his way of turning me down. Another moment passed, and he seemed content with that answer. So I said, "God bless you," and then thanked him and left.

On the way home, I wondered whether maybe he'd been drinking. But he really didn't look like it. He just wasn't on top of his game. So I prayed on the way home that God would bless him, and that he'd wake him up.

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