At the coffee shop. Thoughts just happen here. Maybe it's the conversations I'm surrounded by. Lady behind me met a man on an online dating web site and just came home from visiting him in New Zealand. Lady across from me is doing a job interview. The interviewer is a little gruff. You know the kind, very elegant and well dressed. Older. And . . . a little demanding. I haven't seen any smiles or human reaching out. Not that she's inhuman. If I was being interviewed, I'd totally bomb this one because this lady would totally intimidate me. I wouldn't know what part of her to appeal to. Then the guy beside me with a laptop just called his mom and told her he was checking facebook for people with the same last name. Invited a guy to be his friend and said, "I'm so and so is my dad." And the guy said, "that's my dad's name too." So, I don't know if that was a coincidence, or these guys are long lost brothers, or what in this crazy world. Speaking of crazy world, I watched a little 8 or 9 year old boy smoke a cigarette. He lit up like a pro. It was so sad. He stared me straight in the face as I drove by, like he was daring me to stop. Daring me to say, "Little boy don't do that!" to which he would spit in my face and say, "I can do whatever the *&@# I want." He had that look. Major chip on his shoulder like he knew I'd scream at him. As if it were obvious that he'd have to defend himself against my onslaught. I wanted to scream, but not at him. I wanted to stop and shoot the breeze. I wanted to ask him if he played baseball or if he ate supper together with his family often, if he had a dog or liked to read books or build stuff. Why do we do this to our kids? And still, I can see Jesus crouched together beside Him on the sidewalk, waiting. Waiting for an opportunity to speak, to be heard. I prayed like crazy - what do I do? Do I stop? Do I go talk to him and say it doesn't matter if he smokes, what really matters is that he's an important guy who can do lots of things and I'm excited that he exists and I'm sorry that he has reasons to be here, alone, while other kids are at school, and smoking. Who cares about smoking. But would that help? Would it have mattered to him? I smiled as I drove by. Deliberate. On the way back he was gone. I wasn't sure whether I was mad or relieved. Kids.

"Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

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