James 24:7

We stood on the platform and waited for the MARTA train that would take us to Phillips Arena to see "The Stones" last night.  A young man approached us and started talking...and talking...and talking.  He had just arrived from Memphis and had come to town to see "Mick, Keith and the boys."  He looked to be in his late 20s.

I thought, "Don't call them Mick, Keith and the boys...call them 'Papaw', boy." 

"Have y'all ever seen the Stones?" He said.  "I saw U2 a few months ago.  I live in Tennessee now but I used to live here in Atlanta.  I worked at Phillips Arena one time.  I play XBox...do you?  I do a lot of Madden football."

We added a lot of interesting commentary.  "You do?"  "Really?"  "Do you enjoy that?"  That sort of stuff.

 "Who's your favorite band? My dad works for a real estate company but my mom's retired.  We moved recently.  It was a lot of work.    Do you like Weezer?  How about Wilco?  I like this new guy...what's his name...oh, shoot..I forgot his name."

We shot glances at one another.

The train sped into the station.  You could feel the rush of cold air being pushed out of its way.  The doors open.  We stepped inside...us and our new friend.

He sat next to me.  "I like a lot of the old bands.  Led Zeppelin..I like them.  I saw Robert Plant...he was good.  Do you know the set list for tonight?"

 I thought, "Yeah, Mick called me earlier and we discussed it."  Didn't say anything much.  Just shook my head and said that I didn't. 

"How many songs do you think they have recorded? My dad likes to fish.  We fish together a lot.  He wants to retire and buy a nice bass boat.  Hey have you ever heard that band 'Death Cab for Cutie?'"

I was beginning to lose consciousness.  I managed to maintain eye contact and hold up my end of the conversation. "Yes." "No"  "Really."  and the ever-popular, "Hmm. that's interesting."

"I heard a guy sold a potato chip that looked like Abraham Lincoln on E-Bay.  Imagine that...a potato chip.  I wish I had bought up a bunch of X-Boxes before Christmas..I could have made a fortune.  Do you like that new song by Train...what's it called...something about a cab?"

He followed us off the train and walked a ways with my sister-in-law.  "Have you ever played Frogger?"  I leaned over to my wife, my ears still ringing, and said, "They make a cute couple."

 My sister-in-law looked back with a "Help me" look in her eyes.  I thought of the old version of the movie, The Fly.  We smiled.

"I can't wait.  I'm going to spend every penny I have on Stones stuff.  Have you ever seen Nine Inch Nails?  I got a job with a movie theater in Memphis."

We got to the entrance where a security guard waited to run his magic wand over me to see if i was carrying a bomb.  I told him he couldn't wand me because I have a defibrillator. I might burst into flames.  He looked like he had heard that 50 times already.  

Our friend ran on ahead of us and disappeared into the crowd.  Later, I saw him with a Stones cap and carrying a bag of t-shirts and posters.  He didn't see me.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

I sat down and watched the multitudes file in to take their seats. I remembered my conversation with Tomas yesterday about something Dallas Willard had written about how we all prefer to select our neighbors ahead of time...how we seek out people who are like us...how we arrange our lives so that we minimize encounters with those who are "other".   Dallas reminded us that that is not the way of Jesus.  Jesus taught us to be open to the next one who crosses our path.  He reminded us that the burden lies upon us to be neighbors and not worry so much about insulating ourselves with a thick layer  of people who are little more than extensions of ourselves.

The lights went down.  The curtain went up.  Mick strutted.  All of the members of AARP went wild.  

I felt I had missed an opportunity.