Hey! I think I know him!


I have a good memory for faces but not always for names. My husband teases me unmercifully about it. He wobbles his head around in imitation of me and says, "He looks familiar!"

It all started one night when a new episode of Cops was coming on. During the brief intro clip montage, I saw the face of a guy from my hometown. I perked right up and said, "Hey! I know that guy!" Sure enough, near the end of the episode, there he was being arrested during Mardi Gras. It happens all the time.

Sometimes we'll be out somewhere in public, at a restaurant or a store. I'll turn to my husband and say, "I think I know that guy -- He looks so familiar to me." Then the waiter or clerk will say, "Hey! Remember me? You taught me five years ago!"

My husband just shakes his head and says, "I swear. We can't go anywhere." It is a small world after all. Sometimes I'm sure he thinks I'm making it up, but I do really recognize people even if I can't name them. I said something to him one night when we saw The Civil Wars on TV. "There's something about that guy," I said.
My husband shot back, "Let me guess. He looks familiar?" He did. A few weeks later an alumni bulletin came from my Alma Mater with a picture of the Civil Wars on it.
"I knew it!" I crowed. He was familiar.

I try not to mention it anymore since all it does is bring on a fresh round of ribbing. However a few weeks ago when I was watching the news I unconsciously blurted it out, "I knew he looked familiar!" CBS was airing a clip about the Kid President, and they showed a clip of his brother-in-law, Brad Montague. Some of you Church of Christ kids might remember him from the songs he put out a few years ago -- "Leprosy" and "Winnie-the-Pooh Scares Me to Death." Anyway, needless to say my husband just rolled his eyes.

The next day I was chatting with some of my students and my student TA about the whole thing -- you know Kid President's brother-in-law and people always being "familiar" to me -- when my student TA said, "You know what's going to be hilarious? When Jesus comes back to get us and you say, 'Hey! He looks familiar! I know that guy!" We all burst out laughing. It was so funny that one of my students drew a cartoon about it.

 
(You can visit this student's blog in The Land of Teacups and Righteous Anger.)
 
 
What's even funnier is that I'm sure Jesus will probably tease me about it on that glorious day, right along with my husband and everybody else!

 
All jokes aside, I wasn't wholly satisfied with my last post; I didn't focus myself enough to really get my point across. So I thought I'd take another stab at it in a more straightforward fashion. I'm really excited about the fact that when Jesus comes again, I'll know him. For me and so many of my loved ones, it will be a day of rejoicing and reunion. Even better, that possibility is open to absolutely everyone because where there's life there's hope. Forgiveness is always freely given from God if it is fully accepted by us on God's terms. That's what I really wanted to say last week. Know God -- Make that your life's business.
 
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10

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