Awkward
I saw him as he was pumping gas. My heart sank a bit. I didn’t really want to talk to him.
He finished pumping his gas and started walking in to pay. “Why didn’t he just pay at the pump so I don’t have to talk to him?”, I thought to myself.
That’s not a good attitude. I quickly recovered and decided to greet him warmly.
“Hey, ________, how are you?”, I said.
I got something like a dismissive grunt back. Schwew. It wasn’t just awkward for me.
I used to know him fairly well. I even remember one of that last real one-on-one conversations I had with him. I ran into him about 40 miles from our houses. He told me about his changing beliefs, some of which I consider bedrock items of the faith. He told me about a preacher he liked who I think is a heretic.
Not long ago, before the gas pumping incident, I had a chance to listen to him talk. Not a real conversation. More like listening to him talk about all the things he likes, things I found a hard time lining up with the faith we (once?) shared.
I don’t know if he has shipwrecked his faith. I worry much more about shipwrecking my own. I don’t know if he believes. Maybe he always believed differently. I can’t really judge his heart.
I just know that the encounter was awkward. Awkward listening to him talk. Awkward running into him.
And I wonder how Jesus would have me overcome the awkwardness.
That’s a tough one Larry. It is hard when one is not a kindred spirit anymore to even find some common ground.
Hey Bill, sorry for the delay. Pretty busy these days. Thanks for taking a look and reading!!!
Yeah, when you have nothing in common, or when you just haven’t really spoken in a while…you do maybe 5-10 minutes (maybe) of catch up talk…then the silence. Been there plenty of times.