She and her male Young Life co-leader were sitting at a table reading the bible.
A young man who resembled Bob Marley, walked right over to McDaniel in the restaurant, looked her in the eye and said,
"Hey, I know I'm not good with words and all
but you are pretty as @#!*$."
He went on to say she was beautiful, amazing, and that he hoped she was as cool as she looked.
She assured me that she had her hair up in a bun,
no make up on
and was wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
She wondered if he was really talking to her.
P looked at her co-leader and informed him that he was in love with McDaniel and they were going to get married.
"That's the love of your life!
You are going to marry her!"
P was pretty excited about it.
No matter how they tried to tell him they were just friends, co-leaders in ministry, he insisted that history was happening tonight, they were in fact, in love, and going to get married.
P was so sure of it that he slapped a total stranger in the chest, pointed to McDaniel's table, and told the guy that he was watching history!
The guy didn't rise to P's level of interest or enthusiasm.
P went to the counter of the restaurant to order food and McDaniel and her co-leader tried to process what had just happened.
They laughed.
They freaked out a little.
They felt awkward.
They felt awkward.
They noticed P never blinked.
They caught P looking at them from across the restaurant and he whispered,
"That's your wife, man!
THAT'S YOUR WIFE!"
They were amazed that they could hear him!
They wondered if he was some sort of
dreadlocked prophet who never blinked.
He came back and asked what they were reading.
They explained it was the bible.
His response,
"You know the letter J?
The letter J is 500 years old!
The letter J is 500 years old!
That's heavy, that's heavy!
If the letter J is 500 years old, how old is Jesus?
If the letter J is 500 years old, how old is Jesus?
Think about that. THINK ABOUT THAT.
That's heavy!
We have to deal with this."
That's heavy!
We have to deal with this."
They answered that Jesus was older than 500.
McDaniel's friend asked what P believed.
"I believe that God knows I don't understand everything."
Whoa.
Then P turned to the two inebriated guys sitting near him and announced,
"These two are reading the bible! What are YOU doing?"
McDaniel feared a confrontation.
Then P focused on one of the guys and said,
"You are amazing! You are incredible!"
The guy looked like he was ready to fight him
but didn't.
P mentioned how old the letter J was again (500 years old), how much he loved them, that his love was genuine and he loved their love for each other.
"Me and my mom were driving tonight and saw a UFO,
that's heavy. She was in the military. Think about that."
P asked where McDaniel and her friend were from. They asked where he was from.
Then he left.
McDaniel and her friend were left with many questions.
What if someone overheard that God knows that we don't understand everything and it made all the difference?
"Everywhere."
Then he left.
McDaniel and her friend were left with many questions.
Where was P really from?
What does P do?
Wait. A UFO?!?
P has a mom?!
After McDaniel finished telling me this story over the phone, she told me she had this feeling she's going to run into P 30 years from now, somewhere completely random, and he's going to look exactly the same and he's going to say the exact same things to her.
I was retelling this story to friends the other night and we all wondered about P.
Not if he'd been sniffing Sharpies or drinking some mushroom tea, but how was it that he was so free to speak in such an affirming way to people?
Strangers.
He looked at people like he really saw them (and not just because he didn't blink).
He spoke life to people, not just compliments.
It seems harder to receive
yet impossible to forget.
What if that drunk guy who P called amazing and incredible, was hearing that for the first time?
What if, for a second, he believed it?
What if the goodness P exuded inspired someone that night to pay it forward?
What if someone overheard that God knows that we don't understand everything and it made all the difference?
What if Jesus has dreadlocks?
Oh, I am not claiming P is Jesus.
But he sure loved like Him in that restaurant.
Yes, I know he used explicit language, he didn't blink, and the letter J is way older than 500 years,
but I know God uses flawed and broken people all the time to impact His kingdom.
God looks at us and really sees us as we truly are, not how we feel.
In Judges 6:12, an angel of God appeared to Gideon and called him a mighty warrior even though he was hiding, scared on the threshing floor.
God sent a messenger to remind Gideon who he truly was, not how he felt.
That's heavy.
In Hebrews 13:2 it reminds us to always entertain strangers because they might be angels.
Think about that.
And in Mark 12 we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.
THINK ABOUT THAT.
I don't know who P is or what his motivation was that night, but I won't soon forget him and I wasn't even there.
And he is WAY better with words than he thinks he is.
Now the real question is, was P watching history unfold? Only time will tell and how would that be for story to tell the kids?!
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