June 16 "My name is Joseph"

Wednesday:  I had the entire day ahead of me to work on pictures for Emma's open house party next weekend, as well as to run a few mid-day errands. My friend, Brenda, suggested that I go downtown and check out Gordon Foods for cupcakes and other snack items for Emma's party. It's a good thing I called Brenda to get some tips as to how to find this place! It's like they are TRYING to hide it from the public or something--which would be rather stupid. 

I finally found it, located on the corner of Diamond and Michigan. It is in the lower floor of a newer large many-floored building with a small (!!) red-letter "G" above the door. Parking was in the rear of the building in kind of a parking garage that was underneath the other part of the building. I pulled in, rather exhausted from looking hither and yon for this store, and the parking garage was quite full. I saw a vacant parking place, but sitting on the ledge at the end of it was a young black fellow smoking a cigarette. 

I have a confession to make here and now--it's not a blanket confession, because this doesn't ALWAYS happen--but today it did and I need to own it for what it was. In my head, I immediately judged that this parking place might not be safe. I mean, what was that fellow doing smoking, dangling his feet over the edge like that? Why was he there? If I pulled in, would he harm me? I ask myself this question now: would I have had the same exact reaction if this fellow hadn't been black? I honestly do not know. Truly. I am always a little bit leary of strangers, especially ones hanging about in parking garages--but I was tired of looking for a place to park and I decided to just pull in and park right at the feet of this guy.

I got out of my car, he smiled and asked me a question:

"Is that a sheep hanging from your mirror?"

"Yes," I answered. "I bought it in Jerusalem about 20 years ago!"

"No way!" responded the young man with a smile (he had a very genuine smile). "I hope to go to Jerusalem next year some time."

"Really? Wow! I LOVE Jerusalem. I've visited there THREE times, but not since 2004." I informed him.

"What brought you there? Why were you visiting and WHY three times?" he asked.

"I went in 1999, 2001 and then in 2004. But my favorite time was 2004 because it was a study tour and we spent a lot of time hiking the land and talking with the people. It was a 10-day trip with a respected Bible teacher and an Israeli tour guide. I recorded every word that was taught and then came home and transcribed all 33 tapes (it took me a year) and burned the transcript onto a CD to give to the other 20 people who were with us." 

His face as I was telling him this was SO interesting ... because he was so engaged and excited! He told me that he had grown up in "the church" but that he had been kind of "turned off" to it lately because he did not get along with his parents (who preached at him a lot). He got along much better with his grandmother, who often took him to church too. But lately, he had not been attending anywhere at all. He had decided to read all the books from all the religions that he could get his hands on. He said that last year, he had studied Islam and had actually become part of a Moslem group for about three months--but then he felt that too many of them wanted him to hate white people, so he decided that he couldn't be a part of that. He felt that God was LOVE and that HATE shouldn't be a part of his belief system. 

I listened carefully as he spoke. He was a wonderful communicator. I loved our conversation so much. I shared with him a few things about Jesus that I love. This young fellow knew a lot of Bible stories and we talked about a few of them together. He says he hasn't made up his mind yet about "religion" but he is going to continue searching. 

We had probably spoken about 15 minutes before I asked him his name. "My name is Joseph," he said and then asked me my name. I introduced myself and told him that Joseph was a good name! He agreed. We shook hands and told each other we would remember to pray for each other and then he offered his PINKY so that we could have "pinky prayer" connection. I gave him my pinky and we joined them together and squeezed. 

I just need to say that the entire conversation and experience was very singular for me and so wonderful. I am so thankful that God convicted me of my pre-judgment of this fellow, gave me courage to engage in conversation and receive such blessing as a result. I will remember you, Joseph. May God lead you into His loving heart of salvation.