Not So Small Talk

"Give me those two dimes," the man said, looking at Howard's outstretched palm.  He was returning a shopping cart and my husband was searching for a quarter for a deposit on one for us. Howard was looking for enough pennies for the balance to give the man for the cart when he asked teasingly, "Would you take a guitar pick?"

"No, I've got lots of guitar picks," the friendly stranger laughed, "even a pick for  my 5-string banjo!" At the word, banjo, Howard perked up and said incredulously, "You have a 5-string banjo?  I've always wanted to learn how to play one!"

From there he learned the man's name, where he was from, and that he was on city council in his town for 27 years, that he played instruments in church, what church he attended, and that he had known someone we used to know who lived there!  Small world!  But then my people-person husband has a way of drawing someone out.

Take yesterday.  He went into the store for water and stayed a good while.  "I was talking to the bag boys," he explained.  "I told them, 'You should really treasure your time working here, because someday you'll look back on it as a great opportunity.'" He said he told them he worked in his dad's store as a teenager, and that it was a good place to get experience and get to know the customers.

"Yes," the boys exclaimed.  "We always know what this old man is going to buy when he comes in: a ham sandwich and a bag of chips. Every time!"  They told of other predictable customers as they sat mesmerized by the king of talk on a slow evening.

Today Howard came in full of stories he heard while dropping off our truck at the shop.  "I don't know why people tell me everything," he mused, "I guess I just look like someone easy to talk to."  Duh! But this time he was able to be compassionate to a man who with his wife was raising a baby granddaughter.  "Her mother is just in and out," the distressed man had shared.

Well, I know why people are drawn to him and why he is drawn to people.  It is the Holy Spirit in him, and his pastor's heart. God has given Howard the ability to relate to and communicate easily and naturally with people, even strangers.

Jesus was like that.  He could immediately find common ground with people.  He talked of living water with the woman at the well, after asking her for a drink.  He told the great fisherman, Peter, that He would make him a fisher of men. He took little children on his lap and said of such is the kingdom of heaven. He gently suggested to Martha to get out of the kitchen. And he fed the people and told them of Living Bread.

The next time my husband goes into the store for a loaf of bread and stays a long time, I won't say anything. He could be telling them of the Living Bread!