Last Sunday, I was sitting in the very backest pew, when about fifteen minutes into the sermon, a man walked in and sat down at the complete opposite end of the pew. He was probably 10 feet away from me. But I smiled warmly, in a “don't worry- we're not big on showing up on time- we're so glad you're here” kind of way.
A note about my church. It tends to attract all types. It skews younger, like 25-40, but there's a wide range. And there's usually a homeless guy or to. Now, this guy didn't see homeless at all, but I just wanted to throw that in for context.
I don't speak to him after church because I got cornered by one of the minister people and then I had to run across town to meet my friend Joy for a day at the Flower Show. Joy and I are wandering around the convention center, that's been turned into giant Paris gardens, having a grand old time taking our pictures next to roses, tulips, and thing we don't know names for.
We've just bough dozens of flowers and are caring them in our arms like beauty queens, when I bump into someone and low and behold- it's the man from church.
He says, “How do I know you.”
I say, “From church. We sat next to each other this morning.”
I say, “From church. We sat next to each other this morning.”
I introduce Joy and we all start chatting away. I'm having difficulty understanding him through the accent, but Joy confirms that he said, “I would like to get to know you outside of church.” “How long are you going to stay at the flower show?” “What do you like to do when you're not at work?”
Somehow, I thought he was trying to find out more about the church activities, so I kept mentioning the coffee hour on Sunday's or the upcoming mission project. Or saying things like, we're never leaving the flower show. It wasn't until Joy extricated us from the conversation and I said, “Was that awkward?” and Joy said, “yes, because he was hitting on you,” that I even realized I was being hit on.
I always knew I would meet someone at church....
