..to listen a little Lyle Lovett and some Avett Brothers.

This is gonna ramble, so get out now if you don't want to invest in the story.


Do you pick up hitchhikers? I do. I don't pick up every hitchhiker I see, but I'll make a judgment call and pull over to give someone a ride if  I can. Usually it's on my runs back and forth to Fayetteville. I'll see people on 74/76 or 87 and I'll pull over and tell them to jump in the back of the truck (not because of safety, I just usually have a ton of stuff in the front of the truck with me).
I usually wind up talking to them either in the truck or through the sliding glass. Everybody's got a story. I hear sad ones, "down on their luck" ones, ....... and that figures because, let's face it, if you're hitching rides, you're probably not sitting on top of the world at this particular point in your life.
And that, probably more than any other reason, is why I pick them up. It's helping them at a time when they need it. The ride I give them is probably the only way I will ever interact with them.
I don't really see many people hitchhiking these days. Especially in town. For whatever reason (horror movies, laws against it, etc.), there's less of it. Which is a good thing, I suppose.


So I picked up a hitchhiker in town on the way to church this past Sunday.
But I'm getting ahead of my story.......
For all the things I might be missing out on as a single guy, riding to church with other people in the car isn't one of them. I have never argued with myself on the way to church. I've never accidentally done anything that ticked me off. I've never fought with myself about the radio or what I was doing after church. And I never sit in the truck waiting for somebody else to get a move on. When I roll out and head into the sanctuary, I'm usually in a pretty good mood and ready to worship. 
Matter of fact, the biggest problem I've had riding to church lately is we've moved the start of Worship up 10 minutes to 8:50. That means I miss the Will Shortz Word Quiz on NPR.
 Tough life, huh?
What I'm saying is, I like my rides to church on Sundays. I pick something I want to listen to and just enjoy the time.


This week on the way to church I saw a person on crutches moving slowly down the sidewalk on 17th street in the same direction I was. They stopped, stuck their thumb out once before I got to them, then started crutching again. They were wearing a toboggan, a big coat and had one of those old school foam and velcro full-leg immobilizers.
I tore a meniscus my senior year of college and spent a lot of time in one of those immobilizers. I hate those things, so there was no way I was passing this person and leaving them to crutch down the road.
When I pulled over, I saw it was a woman. She put her crutches in the back and climbed in.
There was a little "thank you, no problem" small talk and then I asked her where she was going.
CVS.
You got it. What happened to your leg?
Some *!%@#'er stomped my leg and broke my femur.
Your femur?
Yep. Threw me to the ground and stomped on my leg. Broke my femur. What kind of @*;$# does that to a woman?
A sorry one.
Yep. That's right. Hey, you know anything about Finneran? That's what my prescription is for.
Not really. Is it for pain?
Yeah. I think I'm only getting 8. That wouldn't cost too much would it? 4-5 bucks maybe?
I don't know.
........And FREEZE.
This is where I thought she might hit me up for some money. Can you help me out?...Have got a couple of dollars on you?...etc. It wouldn't have surprised or bothered me. 
Now back to the ACTION....
Well, drop me off at the CVS and I'll get some money from the church people when they get out of church.
(Church people?)
I've already been to church.
Where do you go?
I eat at St. Peters and then I go The Upper Room.
My boyfriend sings in the choir.
We roll into the parking lot and....
CVS isn't open yet. You gonna be all right?
Yeah, I'm good. I'll hang out and get a little cash from the church people and I'll be good to go.
Church people?
You sure I can't do anything else? I got a a fiver on me. Why don't you take it? 
No man, I appreciate the ride. It would took me forever if you hadn't stopped. I'll be all right.
So I dropped her off and headed to church, all the while processing what had just happened.
Why didn't she peg me as "church people"?
 I was wearing khakis and a button down. It was Sunday Morning. I was heading downtown where everything is closed except churches.
Why didn't she want my money?
Dude, cash is cash.

5 days later, still no real answers. I thought about going to St. Peter's and helping out this Sunday and checking to see how she's doing. See if she got her prescription. Maybe just flat out ask her why she didn't see me as "church people". I stopped and did something nice for her on Sunday morning. If that doesn't tilt the scale towards the "church people" tag, why not?
 I don't even care about being seen as "church people". Never have. Especially if it depends on what I wear, what I drive, or what I have to do. I just wonder what she thinks "church people" are.

That's where labeling falls short, I guess. Christian, believer, disciple, follower, "church people".......different connotations to different people. 

Being nice to someone on the way to church made me think harder before church started than I did during church itself. What's up with that?
I just wanted....