You Never Can Tell

Today I had to visit Logan. His wife Beth has been in the hospital, and is now in rehab. The Senior Pastor said that Beth was concerned about Logan and suggested that I visit, which I agreed to do. It was a visit about which I had some trepidation. One of reasons for that is because in previous visits, Logan has been very very quiet, downright non-talkative, leaving the talking to me and Beth. I commented on that to Gerry, as I was on my way to Logan's. Gerry said he had confidence that I could carry on both ends of the conversation, if need be. (Come to think of it, I wonder what he meant by that???) It is true that I've had to do that in various situations before.

I got great training for almost anything during my Cornell years, but especially for ministry. One of the things I did was to interview candidates for admission. It was most often a parent and a prospective student, and it was mostly about information and questions, rather than evaluation or assessment. I learned quickly how to maneuver my way around when the student was very shy, or the parent was very controlling, as well as when no one had anything much to say. I learned to ask the questions I knew they had and then to answer them too! (I'm sure that's what Gerry meant).

In reality, Logan was quite talkative. I learned about his service in World War 2, and how Beth had been an Army nurse. I asked him leading questions to get him to talk. Then eventually, he began to open up about some family issues, which was completely unexpected. It was a much better visit than I had imagined it would be.

Once again I learned the lesson that I keep having to re-learn. You may think you have some idea of what to anticipate, but in reality, you just never can tell!