Sometimes I crack myself up.   You know when you say something funny and even if others don’t get it you find it incredibly humorous?  Maybe you can relate.

Last night I had a good laugh in the car. It has been quite some time since I have been in high school and on occasion I see people who haven’t seen me for years. Some recognize me, others don’t. I stopped the other night to get a Diet Coke on my way home from church and as I walked in the store I recognized a guy whom I had known in school. We might have had a class or been in a school club together and we both had sport and school faculty connections but we didn’t really hang out with the same crowd.  I can’t say we were truly friends but more like good acquaintances.

Anyway, being the socially sanguine person that I am not, I bypassed him and made my way to the drink cooler.  I kept one eye on the cooler and one eye on the counter.  He was still in line.  It is not that I didn’t want to be friendly but I just didn’t want to go through the whole process of awkward chit-chat which I have experienced before.  So I peered over the Little Debbies to see if he was gone, and I don’t know what the man in front of him was doing but it was taking forever and he was still there waiting.

I was tired of looking and waiting so I moseyed over to take my place in line behind “Buster” (Not his actual name… really).  I began feeling a bit uncomfortable because I felt like such a jerk not saying anything and the guy in front of him was still doing what he was doing that was taking forever……..So I very quietly, just in case it wasn’t him, mumbled a soft, “Buster”.  I could tell that he had heard me because he slightly looked to his right and scouted to see who said his name but then turned back around.   So, I upped my volume a tiny bit and uttered, “Buster,” one more time.  This time he turned around completely to see if someone was saying his name.  When he turned he obviously didn’t recognize me so rather than be offended I decided it was time to have some fun.   I quietly said his name again and when he looked around I just happened to be looking the other way. And then again and again…………Okay, I didn’t really do that… the second time I said his name I also made a point to grab his sleeve.  He really didn’t recognize me but when I reintroduced myself he was actually pretty friendly.

He left.  I got back into my car and on the way home I began thinking about that whole “how funny it could have been” situation… I chuckled pretty much all the way home.

Who’s calling your name?  Has it been too long? Would you recognize the voice?

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3b (NIV)