Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

Where's Eric (6/7/02)

This made no sense at all. We had talked just the day before on the phone. He'd thought I was to meet him at 11:00 on Wednesday, but he was a day off. So here it was, Thursday, & no Eric.

Eric Ross was just a dweeby little kid when I started attending the Bux Mont Christian Church in Bucks County, PA, over twenty years ago. His parents were a lot of fun to be around, & we had many good memories. As the canvas of Eric's life unrolled, he ended up in Bible college, & then in full time ministry. We reconnected two years ago at the Eastern Christian Convention in Hershey. It was neat to see what a fine young man he had become.

So I was rather surprised to be snubbed by him, especially after risking life & motorcycle, braving the Capitol Beltway traffic & the horrific Springfield, VA, interchange known locally as the Mixing Bowl. Eric is the new minister at Central Christian Church in Springfield, & I wanted to have lunch with him & just encourage him, & welcome him to the area.

I even arrived early. The parking lot of the church was empty, except for one truck in the front of the driveway. The church doors were locked. I walked around the whole building, in fact, I walked around the whole property. I called Bev on the cell phone to get his office number, but then changed my mind. "What's the sense? I'm at the church, the office is in the church, & if he's not here, why bother calling?" I even drove up the street & gassed up the bike at a Citgo, just to kill time. Where was he?!

Driving back from the gas station, I thought I'd give him one last chance. As I passed the building, I saw a guy who looked like Eric, so I beeped the horn & he waved. But by the time I swung a U-Turn at the long red light two blocks away, & pulled into the driveway for the second time that day, he was gone. I parked the bike (again), knocked on the church doors (again), & thought, "I must be losing my mind. I know that was Eric!"

So I put the helmet on (again), fired up the Goldwing (again), & prepared to head back to Maryland, home of the sane. I was getting out of this Twilight Zone experience & never coming back. Let him come to me, I thought, & I'll play hide & seek with him.

That's when he came walking out of the dilapidated little ramshackle hut they call their offices at that church. I hadn't seen the sun-weathered, minuscule-lettered, barely visible sign on the door. I thought someone lived there, or that maybe it was even abandoned. But no, he'd been in there the whole time, just certain I'd forgotten our lunch date! Yes, that was him who waved, & then he'd returned inside to wait for me, never realizing I didn't have a clue that's where the office was!

Remember that little phrase you've heard all your life about assumptions? It's true! He assumed I knew where the offices were (because I said I'd been to the church before) & I assumed the offices were inside the church & that the house was abandoned (because, well, I don't know why I thought that!)

Lunch was great. Eric's got tons of ideas & energy to revitalize that congregation. I was glad we found each other. I assume it won't be the last time.


Jim Dewar --