Overheard
A couple of nights ago: two young men, two young women having burgers and beer. One doesn’t intend to overhear their conversation; they’re young, hanging out, maybe they’re couples, maybe not. But then one notices: they’re talking about children. One guy says he wants to have two, because then if the second birth gives twins, you only have three. If you have two and go for three, you might end up with four. One girl says you can’t count on it, she knows a couple that has four children, first they had one, then they had triplets.
Having overheard that, I couldn’t get back to my theology book, I was so amazed, perhaps even happy. They’re just like I used to be, 40 years ago: poised on the edge of the unknowns of parenthood, ready to leap, trying to maintain some control over the unknown—a vain hope of course, but warming to the overhearing heart. I wanted to say: once you have three, you’re outnumbered. I wanted to pass along the New York wisdom: once you have three, you need two taxis to get anywhere.
But I really wanted to say: God bless you.
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The next afternoon, at a common table at Starbucks, working on revisions to a lecture. Three young people are next to me with textbooks and notes quizzing each other. They’re medical students of some sort; nurses, maybe, or premed, but perhaps specialists in pediatric or cardiac. If the patient has such and such, what do you do? They’re memorizing a ton of details; they go through lots of variations and how you change the treatment for each case. Their exam is a couple of weeks away; they’re studying, one picks up, every day until then.
Once again, I’m impressed. They’re bright and they want to do good work to help people. When they mentioned a neurological drug, I wanted to tell them my wife used to take that. I wanted somehow to be a representative of all their future patients (and their future patients’ families) and say thank you for working so hard to do good to people.
I really wanted to say: God bless you.
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Out & About. This weekend I’ll be at All Souls’ Church in Oklahoma City, preaching Saturday, April 28, at 5:30 p.m., and Sunday at 8, 9:15, and 11 a.m.
The following Sunday, May 6, I am to be the preacher at St. Philip’s Church in Sulphur Springs, Tex., at the 10:45 a.m. service. After the service, I’ll be talking about “Love, Caregiving, Death, and God.”