That’s what the man said as he plopped down onto my chair beside the table and pointed to the sign that read “Catholic Truth”.
“So tell me, what is truth?”
I’m staring at him across the table thinking, “Okay, Pontius Pilate, that’s a big question. Where do I begin?”
“You don’t know!” he crowed.
“Wellll, the biggest truth is that God loves you.” It’s so true, so fundamental and important. Yet I could see it rang hollow in his ears.
He said, “i take care of my wife all the time trying to get medicine for her. I want to know that is truth?”
I’m thinking “What is he really asking?” when he slaps the table, jumps up and walks away with a dismissive wave over to a group of men standing. “That bitch doesn’t know what’s truth!”, he says, pointing my way.
Clearly I blew it. I was awake all that night going over and over what happened, haunted by my inadequacy. I was totally unprepared for the question. But when you sit on the sidewalk with a big sign reading: “Catholic Truth”, it is inevitable someone will ask.
Over the next few days I mulled over what I could have said. Do you ever do that? Miss an opportunity to say something meaningful and then berate yourself for days over the all the clever comebacks and convincing arguments you should have used instead of standing there looking like an idiot? Or is it just me?
What should I have said? Answer with a question? Hmmm. “What truth do you mean?” (Then he points to the sign. Right. Duh)
Why didn’t I just hand him Father Larry Richard’s CD entitled “Truth” that was sitting there on the table? Never occurred to me.
Maybe I could have told him there are a lot of people who are true, like himself taking care of his wife and all. Jesus is true.
Maybe I should have kept on talking; not give him a chance to speak while I wowed him with the gospel message. Like, “God loves you so much he sent his only begotten son that whoever believes him Him what not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). I know this is true because I know Jesus. I spend time with Him and I know Him. I trust what Jesus says because Jesus is God and God can’t lie, right?” Hey that’s good. Why didn’t I think of that?!
The truth is I need to practice telling the gospel message out loud in a mirror, or to my cats so I can hear myself. I also need to practice saying my witness in 3 minutes or less–What Jesus has done for me and what a difference He makes in my life.
This is my resolution. Learn from this mistake and practice to be better prepared next time.
God knows how incompetent I am. I think I’m in good company, though. The Bible is full of incompetent people and God can write straight with a crooked pencil like me. We learn by doing. As a priest friend once told me,
“If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.” So I will keep on stumbling along, striving to do better, trusting that God is pleased that I am trying to please Him, and knowing that “God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8.