Walking and Waiting

As Jack and I take our morning walks, I often see neighbors hurrying to their cars to go to work or get the children to school, or both.  I sometimes see an older man and woman slowly walk to their car with an even older neighbor who used to drive around town in a decades old yellow BMW, but who is barely able to walk with a walker.  I see neighbors walking their dogs, and kids joking with one another on their way to school. They are mostly on foot, but sometimes they zip around on skateboards and bikes.  One day I even spotted a young man walking and reading, not an electronic device, but rather an old fashioned paperback book. I frequently see a tall man with a pack walking with his slender dog.  I see them all over town so they walk a lot; it could be how they spend their days.  

 

While I try to avoid it, I sometimes must cross a particularly busy intersection.  There is little that happens leisurely at this crossroads.  At one corner is a small gas station that can get quite congested in the mornings. Across the street is a convenience store.  On either side of the street is a bus stop. It is here that people get on the freeway to head north or turn to go south to either BART or 880. I am often surprised at how loud traffic can be even when someone does not feel compelled to honk a horn to hurry things along. Even with traffic lights, the chaos, frustration, and distraction are barely contained.    

 

It was on such morning, as two drivers were honking at each other in the midst of busy traffic, when I noticed a  man simply standing at the bus stop by the gas station.  His stillness was in sharp contrast to the flurry of exasperation that was occurring all around him. 

 

I see him now about twice a month. I cannot tell whether or not he is homeless, but  I am certain his life has not been easy.  The knit cap he probably wears every day has been around for quite sometime. His jacket and other clothes are muted yellows, beige, and browns, faded from long wear. 

 At first, he would not look in our direction, but eventually he began to nod when he saw us, but then would look away.  We have now moved to a smile and a slight wave.  I have never actually seen him get on a bus, but I must assume that he does. However, for me, he is the one who waits.  There is nothing he can do to make the bus come more quickly. He has no horn to sound to clear the way. He does not appear to have any device to make a phone call, check an email, or take a photograph. I have never seen him with the ubiquitous paper cup obtained from either the convenience store or one of the coffee shops down the street.  Unlike most of us, he simply waits.  

 

Jesus walked much. But as he walked, I think he also waited. That is why people could find him. He had been waiting for them all along.  

  

Stand at the cross roads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is,

and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.    

 

Jeremiah 6:16