Encounters

There are still two old barns at the western end of Marshall Road Extension. This is one of them.

As I am recalling my Christmas Holiday, I can count at least 75 people with whom I have had at least a brief conversation. This does not include all the many folks who only got a "Merry Christmas" from me. Two encounters stand out, one a result of my initiative and the other not, although I was a very willing participant in both cases.

The first one was a two hour coffee I had with an old friend I had not seen for many years until I attended his dad's funeral just before Christmas. I was so impressed with the eulogy that my friend gave that I had to get together with him to tell him so. We had a long discussion about such things and his perspective on his dad's life and death. Years before his dad's demise, he began to email his long lost relatives about his dad's condition, and would always talk about his dad's life of integrity and his dad's faith in God. These people were hearing about God not through my friend, but through his ailing dad, even though it was my friend who was writing to them. Now, after the funeral, many of these people are wanting to talk to my friend. Although his dad was a quiet man, he was a steady rock and did mentor many people. Now in his death, he still speaks to many.

The other very interesting encounter was with a sometimes friend who I met in Palm Springs, but lives here. He loves meaningful conversation and is quite conversant on many topics. He has developed this habit of baiting me. He will bring up a topic and then tell me that he wants to get together to discuss it. I am always 'up' for it and promptly do my research. This time he got me on a topic of interest that I already had a bit of a handle on. He gave me an audio CD by a Catholic Priest who was describing the Emergent Church. That coffee lasted almost three hours! I was sure we would be disagreeing on some aspects of this topic, but we each went away in almost total agreement and each a bit wiser.

I thoroughly enjoy encounters such as these, but they take time and my days off are the only occasions when I can do this kind of thing. We are going to a sunny place for a week in February and we are going with another couple. They too thrive on this type of thing so I am really looking forward to this vacation for more reasons than one.