Happenstance

"Happenstance" is not just the name of a CD by the self-proclaimed "America's most Entertaining band," Fozzy!! (Fronted by WWE Superstar Chris Jericho.) Happenstance is a chance encounter. I have had a few of those in the last couple of months. I am finally blogging about them.

The first two happenstances were when I was waiting for a bus on State St. Some guy walked up and asked if I was waiting for a bus. I said yes. He said he would wait with me. He looked fairly young. He was wearing a polo shirt and a light jacket. He seemed a bit upset. I asked what was wrong, and he said something about his friends leaving him behind. They took off in a cab without him. I could sorta smell alcohol on him. I assume they left him at a bar. He started talking about how he really wanted to join the army and serve this country. He said that nobody understood how he wanted to serve his country. I commented that people here in Madison probably wouldn't appreciate the fact that he wanted to go into the Army. I told him that he should follow what made him happy. I basically just listened to him because he was upset. He got on the bus with me and then go back off after a few stops.

Another happenstance at a bus stop was when it was pretty cold, and I was waiting for the bus. I didn't have my watch with me, so I asked an older woman what time it was. She told me, I said I hoped that the bus would come soon. She sort of sighed and said "If the goddess is kind." I thought about saying something like "Yes HE is very kind" to express my view about God or to mention Jesus Christ. But I didn't want to seem like I was picking a fight. People here in Madison can be so sensitive. I also thought something like "the bus is going to come anyway, it's not a result of 'the goddess' or God being kind." Sort of like what does God care if the bus is on time or not.

There was another time, several months ago, when I was doing a phone interview at the survey center. One of the questions for the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) asked about the man's religious preference. He said Christian. I read the list of options to him which were something like "Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic..." He said he was just Christian. One of the subsequent questions asked how often he attends religious services. He explained that he doesn't attend religious services, he watches a Christian TV show every morning, 5 days a week. I don't remember what I ended up entering into the computer for that question. Out of curiousity I asked him what Christian TV show he watches. He said Arnold Murray's Shepherd's Chapel. The man I interviewed said he likes it because the pastor goes verse by verse through the Bible. I have seen bits and pieces of Shepherd's Chapel. It's usually on very early in the mornings on network TV. I have also looked at a few websites who call it a cult and point out the strange teachings of Arnold Murray. (The only website I could find through a Yahoo search was this "Let Us Reason" article.) I guess Arnold Murray teaches the Bible verse by verse, but he twists some very strange interpretations out of it.

So this brings me to the existential question of these happenstances. Why was I there to hear the young guy talk about how nobody understood his desire to go into the Army? Or when the older lady said "if the goddess is kind"? Should I have told that guy on the WLS phone interview that I had heard that Arnold Murray teaches weird things out of the Bible? Should I have mentioned "God is kind" to the older lady at the bus stop? Is it wrong for me as a Christian to not say something about Jesus Christ to everyone I meet? I don't know.