My Father, The Social Butterfly

My Dad is a social butterfly. I've never seen anything like it. He loves people. He loves talking to them, watching them, and helping them. His favorite song is "People Need The Lord". And he truly believes that every person has more to them than meets the eye. I'll give you case in point.

I've already told you about our activities of last Thursday. When I parked his truck in the lot on 3rd Avenue, the only person either of us knew was each other. That was soon to change. I'll say "we" met people, but that's not really the case. "He" met people and introduced me to them.

We walked the few blocks to the club, where we met the hostess, I can't remember her name. But she's only been at that job for a short time and likes it. We then met Loren, our waitress. She just graduated from college with a degree in Music. She broke up with her long time boyfriend a couple of months ago and is "okay with it", she has a beautiful singing voice, and her family is from Ohio. She had an audition yesterday that she was very hopeful about. The BBQ ribs are her favorite dish.

Next, I was introduced to Calvin. Calvin is the "bathroom guy" at the club. You know... he passes out cologne and sells cigars... that kind of thing. Calvin is divorced from his first wife and used to live in Bessemer, Alabama. Calvin has been to (or lived in) Gate City, Downtown Birmingham, Eastwood and many other localles that are familiar to me. He has worked in clubs in Memphis?, Birmingham, and Atlanta. He loves cigars.

After that we left the club and walked around. We met a man named Pops. He was the bouncer at Coyote Ugly. He was standing out on the sidewalk by himself. He loves his job, used to do drugs, has been clean for a long time, and is not married. Other things were discussed but I was window shopping at the time. *He had my favorite quote of the night: I used to do acid. Now I do antacid.*

So at the end of a relatively short period of time, friends were made. People smiled and I think a couple even heard the name of Christ(and not as a curse word). We walked all the way to the end of the block, visiting and having a great time. When it was time to go, this is how it went:

"Mike, take it easy. Good luck tomorrow." (from Pops)
"Mike, take care of yourself. I hope everything goes alright." (from Calvin)
"Mike, I'll be thinkin of you. Come back and let us know how it went." (from anonymous homeless guy)
"Thank you Mike. Take care." (from Loren)

We started out that evening together with different agendas. I wanted to eat good food and relax. My Dad wanted to eat good food and minister to someone. He recognizes that people all have private pain and need the Lord. And he is always willing to take the time to get to know the nameless, faceless people of the world. I love that about him. Some people might find the fact that he talks to everyone annoying. I find it convicting.