Late Night Calls
I seem to attract phone calls between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am, or maybe it’s my job, though many of the calls I receive are not tied to my job. The first one I remember receiving was the summer of 2000. In the summer of 1999, The crew I hung out with at the time and I made a habit of doing foolish things. Among those foolish thing – pick up lines. We would make up these wretched pick up lines and practice them before going out and using them as a means to meet new people. The lines weren’t really to be used for “picking up” females, but as a tool to start conversations. This was, at least, what we told ourselves. Creativity was important, as was shock value.
My favorite: We would pass our gospel tracts to ladies we would pass in the town where a few of us lived and say: “Excuse me, would you be interested in hanging out with me in paradise someday?”
But there was one that we all had in our minds was amazing, that as I look back now, I think was really kind of stupid. But it was the one no one would try. One night we stayed out till late doing whatever it is that we did, and eventually I had to leave and go to bed. I worked as a DJ for a radio station at the time and had to be up at 4:00 am, so I figured I should at least be asleep by 2 am. The rest of our crew went to Denny’s for a late night snack. While they were there, Roo (one of the crew) saw this “amazingly beautiful” girl and decided to walk over the the booth where this girl sat with three of her friends and try the line that had not been tested.
So he strutted over to the booth that held the girls in place, and sat next to the girl in question. With his deep blue eyes (please understand, Roo had deep blue eyes), he smiled at her and said the words, “Those are nice shoes you’re wearing, wanna make out?” A dramatic pause hung over both tables as the girls at the table digested what the strange young man had said, and then as the “amazingly beautiful” girl mulled over what her response would be.
“No. But you guys can come over here and talk to us.” She replied. More awkward silence, and then everyone laughed.
Ironically after an evening of conversation and fun, the “amazingly beautiful” girl decided to ask another one of the guys in the crew out, and they went out. (We’ll call him Joe) Joe was much younger than Roo and “AB girl”, but evidently they had a fabulous time on their “date” and decided to go out again. This relationship took off, but the problem was that they lived two very different lives. Joe was a missionary kid who was currently enrolled in Bible college, and “AB girl” was none of those things and more.
To make a long story short, “AB girl” never became a Bible college student or a missionary, but Joe became the opposite of those things, eventually deciding to start living with “AB girl” and hanging out with a different crew of people all together. I don’t judge him for that, but I do judge me for not knowing how to encourage him properly through the process.
One summer night in the summer of 2000 while I slept deeply as I like to do, I received a call from Joe, crying his eyes out, and begging me to come get him. I said, “Where are you?” I asked in my normal voice at 3:30 am, which I’ve been told, sounds a lot like Katherine Hepburn talking over a vacuum. “At her house,” he responded, sounding defeated and lost. “Just come get me quick.” I woke my eyes up, jumped out of bed, and drove the 10 minutes to his new/old house, where I picked him up on the curb that humid summer morning.
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You know I cried musltiple times from this story. He was my college roommate at the time, and I remember the day he moved out. I remember that night laying in bed in the dark all alone thinking and crying for him. I remember thinking how stupid I was for not encouraging him to make a different decision. How stupid I felt for not doing the right thing throughout that whole summer.
I cried 2 or 3 weeks ago when you told that story during your message, and I cried reading this today. When you told this a few weeks ago I thought back on that whole period in our lives. How we had such good times, and how so many of them were good for the wrong reasons. But what really hit me was how God showed His love, Grace and Mercy to us all.
Marty, it is an amazing thing to see God work in your own life, but it is much more amazing to see Him work in other’s lives despite how stupid I act. Thank you for being a great friend, for making the decisions you made to begin a journey w/ God to move away from the childish carnal things we were pursuing.
You will forever remain one of the reasons I am where I am today. Thanks for being my friend and for the memories!
All I could think of from the title was “Why is my Pastor talking about getting a ‘Booty Call”
I know this will sound a little harsh, but here it goes. The “crew” was a mess – me included (I was a roommate as well [for 1 semester]- but not Joe). Was it the 3 of us or was there another? While we didn’t cross many lines (I can namme some “adventures”, but I won’t), I felt I was in a place where I was not comfortable being. At the time I struggled with not wanting to go against the grain. For me I did not know what to do or where to turn. That is actually one of the main reasons I left for a different school – although I did not say it at the time – I don’t know if I’ve ever said it. To this day, I wonder if I could have done anything to help in a couple of different situations. What if I would have said something? What if I would have done something? Is it my fault?
However, God is amazing. A god of grace and forgiveness. Also, I have an awesome wife that I met at the new school and now we have awesome kids. I did have regrets about running out – I felt like I was abandonding everyone, but you know what? It took facebook to reunite, so maybe it was more to me than them.
I look back on those days with the crew and wonder how did any of us make it out of there? God was at work growing us and shaping us into the vessels that he knew would be best suited for his purpose (and yes, this work still conitnues).
I would not trade a minute of my experiences, my friends, or my life but still I wonder – what if???