MY BENCH FRIEND

"Did you call me? I saw you waving, so I came," I said to the man on the bench. Actually, I knew he hadn't meant to call me, but I had to give some reason for crossing the street  and coming over to speak with a total stranger.

I had been walking home from the park one morning when it seemed I felt a tug to talk to the person in front of the drugstore. What? But I'd just crossed the street to get to the other side! But the urging was unmistakable, so I found myself crossing the street again, glad there was little traffic that early in the morning.

Bench Friend

No; of course he had not called me. At first, he looked at me with an expression that seemed to say he'd wanted to be left alone. But when I was about to go, he asked if I could help read the English instruction on the trash bin. Could I? I wouldn't have been able to read difficult kanji, but to read English is the one thing I COULD do--and God KNEW!

SEKI Drugstore across the street

I suppose the person just wanted to talk, and this was a way of keeping me there. It turns out he had been sitting there for quite a long time thinking about "his friend"'s son's suicide, and he had been crying and trying to get drunk while trying to make sense of it all. This man, my age, was born in the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Okinawa and knew the name of the small village where I grew up. Altho' he hadn't accepted Christ for himself, he had been given a Bible at that hospital and even knew of the word "agape" referring to God's Love!

Bench Friend with June

God knew, when I was coming home from the park that morning, about this person's situation and need to talk. A female would feel less threatening than a male, and it would be easier to express his doubts to a layperson (born in Okinawa) than to a clergyman. We ended up talking for about 2 hours. Since we both lived nearby agreed to meet there at the bench for more talks.

That was Aug., 2022. When I first met my friend at the bench, he was in such a negative and garbled state of mind, he could not go to work. God must've cleared up a lot of things for him, because we didn't need to meet for any more talks. Hopefully, we'll be meeting again in Heaven someday and talking about this encounter. It will be August soon, and now I am back down here in Okinawa, the island we were both born in. Father, please do take care of my bench friend.