Sometimes you hear only one side of a conversation. Sometimes that’s enough to make you wonder about the other side.
The Bus Bench
There he was, sitting on the bus bench, talking into his phone. We had no intention of listening, of course, but there wasn’t much else to do while waiting for the bus. He seemed quite absorbed in the conversation, occasionally laughing at something he’d just said. Whoever was on the other end apparently knew him well enough to follow his rather unusual train of thought.
We couldn’t hear the other fellow. We didn’t know who Romeo was, or what had happened between them. We only caught one side of the conversation, and even that seemed to wander from one subject to another. But there was something about the fellow’s manner that made us listen.
What follows is the conversation as we overheard it.
The Conversation
Horatio says:
Elsewhere in my life I was discussing something… my young friend, “the German” we’ll call him… a young fellow working away from home this year… came to me and told me of a situation he’s grappling with… one of the other young fellows has been attacking him in every sphere of his life… and he doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve it… can I hear an AMEN? LOL
Well, we had a chat yesterday afternoon… and the long and the short of it was that his desire to distance himself from this other fellow was a good thing to do… and it turns out to be good advice for me, in my situation with my young friend, Romeo…
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
——— pause ———
It takes two to reconcile, but it only takes one to . . . well, become enemies.
——— pause ———
Two can play at that game… but like I said before, the book of 1 John… there’s no loopholes… the only option is LOVE.
——— pause ———
I am now at Deuteronomy, by the way… having not only “weathered” the law… but having been deeply enriched by it.
——— pause ———
And… alas… still no loopholes… but there was some solace… and it’s about what to do when you see your enemy’s dog stuck down a well… you are to take his dog and bring it to him, saying… “Pardon me for breaching the silence between us, but I know this is your dog…” and hand him the leash you made out of your belt… as you walk away holding up your pants.
——— pause ———
So… my young friend has attacked me, attacked me… and I kept getting off the mat… and running back in with my hands in front of me like boxers do… fists covered with boxing gloves… you can see the blood dripping from my left nostril, and my right eye is swollen from his left jabs… and my hair is drenched with sweat… and I’m swaying… and barely able to “dance” on the mat… the bright lights are blinding me, so my eyes are half closed… the crowd roars… the referee has his whistle in his mouth… but still hasn’t done anything… I’m still standing… and Romeo delivered more blows… lefts, rights… digging up under my upraised forearms… body shots… and again and again my head, my body, my face… and I swoon, and fall to the mat and…
——— pause ———
So I’ve stepped out of the ring… and I wait over here, in my hospital room. LOL
——— pause ———
But what I mean to say, for those of you who haven’t lost me here… I stopped fighting, and I wait here eagerly for the reconciliation…
——— pause ———
But it takes TWO to reconcile… to hash it out… and we’ll see iron sharpening iron… we’ll see age ministering to beauty… we’ll see beauty in the beast (coming to theatres near you).
——— pause ———
… Hey, Dad, it’s been a while… can we get together and talk?
——— pause ———
Romeo will say through the miles and miles of space and time… and I’ll say, “I’m right here, behind you. Turn around…” and he’ll turn, and we’ll embrace, and we’ll maybe even talk things over, but…
——— pause ———
The greatest of these is LOVE.
The Bus Arrives
The bus arrived, interrupting whatever might have come next. The fellow slipped his phone into his pocket and got to his feet. We never did hear the other side of that conversation. We didn’t know whether Romeo would ever turn around, or whether the two men would eventually find their way back to one another.
But we did hear something worth remembering. A man can leave the boxing ring without surrendering his love for the person standing in the opposite corner.
And perhaps that’s enough to carry home from a bus stop.
