I’ve known of John almost the entire time I’ve lived in the Bronx. The guy has a great heart and often just makes bad choices… like most of us. One time a couple of summers back I was playing handball at a local park and one guy I’d never talked to got it into his head that I was the police, he had some drugs on him and decided that if I was the police his best option would be to pull out his knife and wave it around in face. I was caught off guard for sure, but not quite terrified. I looked around and the only person I remotely knew was John, so I looked to him and with a bit of desperation said, “John, tell him I’m not a cop.” John looked back at me his eyes slightly glazed over and said, “nah, he’s not a cop… at least I don’t think he’s a cop.” The knife was lowered and I decided I wanted to talk to this John guy a little more; maybe he’d be good person to know in the neighborhood.
We really hit off a couple months later when I learned he had little girl. His Ex lives in another borough so they’re often separated, but we still really desired to get our kids together to play (they’re just a year apart). Sadly though, it has just not worked; our schedules have seemingly always been in conflict!
Finally though, yesterday we got together. I was excited because our kids would get to play but also because I really wanted to hang out with John, I wanted to learn about him and share some life… however, almost instantly John was asked to be the joker and the kids became Cat Woman and The Green Lantern, after finally securing the jewels John and I got to talk a bit… however we were quickly interrupted and the next thing I knew we were being chased by a couple of tiny zombies (Oh, how I love play dates). Between the zombies, the super heroes, the tricycle riding and jungle gym climbing our time to talk was limited, but after two hours together we did get in some really good conversations.
After a while John asked me this, “Wait, so you still read the Bible?” I thought he asked as if reading the Bible was something that we did as only children, and now that we’re men we should have out grown it. I thought I understood this sentiment though and said, “Yes I do! I think that while many people quit their faiths in adulthood I’ve instead felt a lot closer to God.” He told me he felt closer to God too… just with more questions. But, I had read John wrong, though I had thought he was judging me because I was “religious”, he instead was finding commonality because he too enjoyed talking about the spiritual life. The more we talked the more I realized this guy knew some Bible and had a pretty good grasp on religious ideas, however I also noticed that a lot of his beliefs (while seeking to be his own) were based in JW’s theology. He said he meditated often but felt like no one could really know much about following God… Some of his ideas were good, but many of them didn’t seem to be leading him into the light he so desperately desired. He emphasized God’s love, but didn’t seem to know for himself what love is.
I love that John’s wrestling with the things, and I look forward to more conversations like this in the future. Please pray that John would share his wrestle with some of his friends and that they’d seek out God’s love together in His community.
We really hit off a couple months later when I learned he had little girl. His Ex lives in another borough so they’re often separated, but we still really desired to get our kids together to play (they’re just a year apart). Sadly though, it has just not worked; our schedules have seemingly always been in conflict!
Finally though, yesterday we got together. I was excited because our kids would get to play but also because I really wanted to hang out with John, I wanted to learn about him and share some life… however, almost instantly John was asked to be the joker and the kids became Cat Woman and The Green Lantern, after finally securing the jewels John and I got to talk a bit… however we were quickly interrupted and the next thing I knew we were being chased by a couple of tiny zombies (Oh, how I love play dates). Between the zombies, the super heroes, the tricycle riding and jungle gym climbing our time to talk was limited, but after two hours together we did get in some really good conversations.
After a while John asked me this, “Wait, so you still read the Bible?” I thought he asked as if reading the Bible was something that we did as only children, and now that we’re men we should have out grown it. I thought I understood this sentiment though and said, “Yes I do! I think that while many people quit their faiths in adulthood I’ve instead felt a lot closer to God.” He told me he felt closer to God too… just with more questions. But, I had read John wrong, though I had thought he was judging me because I was “religious”, he instead was finding commonality because he too enjoyed talking about the spiritual life. The more we talked the more I realized this guy knew some Bible and had a pretty good grasp on religious ideas, however I also noticed that a lot of his beliefs (while seeking to be his own) were based in JW’s theology. He said he meditated often but felt like no one could really know much about following God… Some of his ideas were good, but many of them didn’t seem to be leading him into the light he so desperately desired. He emphasized God’s love, but didn’t seem to know for himself what love is.
I love that John’s wrestling with the things, and I look forward to more conversations like this in the future. Please pray that John would share his wrestle with some of his friends and that they’d seek out God’s love together in His community.
– A catalyst in the Bronx
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