I thought I would try something new with this website, which was actually my original idea for it, and offer a few of my thoughts on something that happened on a particular day, or an experience I had, or just an idea, story or opinion on a given matter, to supplement some of my other work. Since I don't like using social media, this platform would suit me better for these things. My hope is to at least write something two or three times a week and put it out once a week.
11/16/25 -Sunday
It was a chilly afternoon when I pulled over my car to the side of a road in Allston to pick someone up at their apartment. Two young women, around college age, were walking on the sidewalk and came over to the passenger side of my vehicle. Upon rolling my window down to see what they wanted, one of them very pleasantly said, "Hi, I just wanted to invite you to come to our church." The invitation caught me off guard. It's not often you get invited to come to church by strangers while sitting in your car minding your own business, especially in a city like Boston, where religion is usually held to be a private matter. My immediate response to the young ladies was "Oh, thank you; actually I do go to church." They both seemed to be pleasantly surprised by my response, looked at each other with a smile, and after saying "Okay, great!" they both walked away.
In hindsight, I wish I hadn't responded so quickly, maybe at least asked them what church they were inviting me to, perhaps tell them what church I go to, though I would have really been interested in finding out how successful they were inviting strangers on the road to church, especially in a city like Boston, but the encounter, like I said, caught me off guard, and the person I was waiting for was making their way to my car. It was hard not to admire the courage it takes to do what they did.
11/17/25 -Monday
I overheard an interesting conversation today, once again from two college aged girls, both students at Boston College, presumably Catholic. One of them was talking about her boyfriend, who was causing her a lot of stress and trauma. As she described her situation, she said that her boyfriend six months ago was an atheist, who in his sophomore year (last year, I think) had tried to kill himself, but failed. Recognizing that he had been raised in a non-religious home and he didn't have tools to deal with his depression, when they started dating she urged him to read the New Testament. According to her, after he read the New Testament, he became a completely different person. He stopped drinking, doing drugs, and began attending church every Sunday, giving his life to Christ. As she described him, he is literally a saint in every possible way, but she didn't know how to handle such a complete change. Before I wasn't able to overhear their conversation anymore, the last thing I heard was that the experience has traumatized her.
It was difficult to hear how much pain she was in because of this change in her boyfriend, and I certainly didn't know enough of the story to really understand what was going on, but between what happened yesterday and what happened today, I find the juxtaposition of stories quite interesting.
11/16/25 -Sunday
It was a chilly afternoon when I pulled over my car to the side of a road in Allston to pick someone up at their apartment. Two young women, around college age, were walking on the sidewalk and came over to the passenger side of my vehicle. Upon rolling my window down to see what they wanted, one of them very pleasantly said, "Hi, I just wanted to invite you to come to our church." The invitation caught me off guard. It's not often you get invited to come to church by strangers while sitting in your car minding your own business, especially in a city like Boston, where religion is usually held to be a private matter. My immediate response to the young ladies was "Oh, thank you; actually I do go to church." They both seemed to be pleasantly surprised by my response, looked at each other with a smile, and after saying "Okay, great!" they both walked away.
In hindsight, I wish I hadn't responded so quickly, maybe at least asked them what church they were inviting me to, perhaps tell them what church I go to, though I would have really been interested in finding out how successful they were inviting strangers on the road to church, especially in a city like Boston, but the encounter, like I said, caught me off guard, and the person I was waiting for was making their way to my car. It was hard not to admire the courage it takes to do what they did.
11/17/25 -Monday
I overheard an interesting conversation today, once again from two college aged girls, both students at Boston College, presumably Catholic. One of them was talking about her boyfriend, who was causing her a lot of stress and trauma. As she described her situation, she said that her boyfriend six months ago was an atheist, who in his sophomore year (last year, I think) had tried to kill himself, but failed. Recognizing that he had been raised in a non-religious home and he didn't have tools to deal with his depression, when they started dating she urged him to read the New Testament. According to her, after he read the New Testament, he became a completely different person. He stopped drinking, doing drugs, and began attending church every Sunday, giving his life to Christ. As she described him, he is literally a saint in every possible way, but she didn't know how to handle such a complete change. Before I wasn't able to overhear their conversation anymore, the last thing I heard was that the experience has traumatized her.
It was difficult to hear how much pain she was in because of this change in her boyfriend, and I certainly didn't know enough of the story to really understand what was going on, but between what happened yesterday and what happened today, I find the juxtaposition of stories quite interesting.
