Go back and read the last one before you read this one

All right. So I tell him I'll be there at 6. Means I have to be up at 5. I set the alarm but I also make it a point to "tell" myself to make sure I wake up at 5. Believe it or not, this tends to work for me. I can usually get up without an alarm clock if I "set" myself. I would feel terrible if I was late and he didn't get there because of me, so I was really feeling the responsibility of this when I went to bed at 11 that night.

Maybe that's why I woke up at 3 a.m.

Yep, 3 a.m.


I laid there and tried to go to sleep. No chance. My mind was all over the place, thinking about everything under the sun, although "under the moon" might be a more appropriate phrase in this situation. Two solid hours of being totally awake. Of course, I did start feeling a little drowsy around 4:56.


5:00 I get up, take a shower, dress, and head out. I'm driving downtown and am amazed at the people that are out and about. I mean, it's not rush hour traffic, but still.....I know what I'm doing driving around at this time of the morning. What's their excuse?



I get to the Mercy House at 5:45, pull up in a spot just before you get to the front of it and wait. 5:55 my man walks up and spots me. The look on his face tells me he is slightly surprised I'm already there, and maybe surprised I'm there at all.


He jumps in and we head out. We make small talk for a mile or two as I make sure we get on Castle Hayne Rd. going in the right direction. I ask him where the job is and he says Dell Labs. I knew they had put one out there but I didn't know where. I asked him where it was.


He said it was "out Castle Hayne road somewhere off to the left".

Nice.

Just the kind of directions you want at 0-dark: thirty in the morning.

I asked him if he'd been to the place before.

He said no, he was supposed to start yesterday but he didn't have a ride.

Just keeps getting better.

If you're from around here, you know Rocky Point is on the other side of Castle Hayne. The thing I equate with Rocky Point is Paul's Place, the hot dog joint. There's two of them within 5 miles of each other. I know where Carver Yacht road is. Outside of that I know very little of the place. 95% of all my rides out to Castle Hayne have been because Billy Vaughn lives out there.

So we're rolling down the road and it's still dark outside. I'm actually looking to the left every now and then as if it would really be on Castle Hayne road off to the left. Yeah right.

We pass the 1st Paul's Place and I say this is what I think of when people say Rocky Point. I tell him if we don't see it by the time we hit the other Paul's Place, we'll stop and ask for directions.

Well, we don't and so we do. He goes in (at this point you might be go Gary, why didn't you go in. Good question.) I watch the exchange. A guy points one direction and my guy points another and the guy shakes his head and points back the other way. My guy comes and says we're on the right road. Just go down the way we're going, there'll be a big curve and Carteret Rd. Turn left.

I pull out and head that way. As we go through the light I say how far down did he say it was?

I didn't ask him that, bossman. Sorry.

What was the name of the road we're looking for?

Carveret......Carmaret......it's up here on the left, he says.

10 miles later, no Dell Labs, no Carteret Rd., no Carmaret Rd..... nothing that looked like what we needed. I told him it wasn't in front of us and I turned around and headed back the way we came.

There must've been something in the way I was shifting gears and not talking, because he said Don't get mad at me, Rev. Sorry I ain't more help. I told him I wasn't mad, because I really wasn't. I was worried he wouldn't get there on time and I'd feel bad about that and that's what I told him.

We went back and got directions at the convenience store across the street from the first one we stopped at, because I didn't want the first one to think I was a moron (even though I am).

Again, he goes in, asks how to get there (told you), comes out and says Man, guess what? It's the other way on this road. We passed the road on the way in. We should've turned at Paul's Place

So I say what road do we turn on?

Carver Yacht Rd.

Carver Yacht Rd?

Yep. Turn on Carver Yacht and go to the end.



QUICK SUMMARY:

I only know two things about Rocky Point.

1. Paul's Place

2. Where Carver Yacht Rd. is



30 miles and 45 minutes after we pass it, we come back and I finally drop him off for his orientation at 6:55.



It's daylight now and as I drive back into school, I'm trying to process everything that has gone on. The lessons and similarities you could make about everything that morning to the Christian experience and walk are pretty obvious, but, I'm left with questions more than I am anything else.

What if he asks me for a ride next week?
What if he asks me for a ride tomorrow?
How many times can I be counted on to love my neighbor before I get tired of it and stop doing it?
How long before the walk turns back into just talk?
Am I just a one-shot nice guy?

?