I think that I have done about five of these posts titled.....Tuesdays With Special Dog....a play on words from the popular 1997 book.....Tuesdays With Morrie.
In these posts I have John and Special Dog meeting regularly at a Manhattan Starbucks to talk and fellowship over coffee....except I hate Starbucks coffee....so I drink lattes.
In this post I want to do something a little bit different. I have to begin by going back at least fifty years....in a screened in mess hall....just like the one in MASH....only this was in Vietnam. It was my mess hall....and one afternoon I put my tray down on a table....sat down....and sitting across from me was a familiar face.....but who was it. I looked at his name tag....and then back at his face....it was a friend that I had grown up with....and had not seen in over a decade....when we both moved away at the age of twelve. His name was Heath....and he was just passing through. I always liked that name....so I am going to use that true event here....in a similar scenario....as John is not present:
There were no tables left in Starbucks on this Spring morning in Manhattan. Latte in hand....Special Dog spied an empty chair across from a man who was just gazing out the window.
S.D......."Mind if I join you?"
Man......"No"
Special Dog sat down....sipped his latte...and gazed out the window also....but then back to the man across from him who looked familiar....until he couldn't help but ask...
S.D......."I'm sorry....but you look familiar.....could we have met somewhere before?"
Man......"I was wondering the same thing. My name is Heath...Heath..."
Special Dog interrupted him.
S.D........"Heath Jacob! Heath I'm Special Dog!"
The two men got up and embraced and laughed before finally sitting back down.
Heath....."How long has it been S.D."
S.D........"Let me see....fifty years since Pitt? Do you remember the last night....just before you moved to Michigan to manage that restaurant?"
They both laughed almost uncontrollably. The whole Starbucks was looking at them....but they couldn't stop laughing.
S.D....."The bar was elbow to elbow and I....loaded with Budweiser as usual....got in a fight in the crowd.....he started it....and you the bouncer....reached in and grabbed me from behind....carried me outside and dumped me on Forbes Avenue. Then you went in and grabbed the other guy....came out and dumped him on me!" (Folks...this actually happened)
They were laughing again....trying to catch their breath.
Heath......."I had no idea that it was you that I picked up till the next day."
Heath looked around at the crowded Starbucks and said..."You don't have any plans on fighting here do you....cause....'I ain't as good as I once was!"
Tears were coming down Special Dog's face...."What have you been doing for fifty years?"
Heath....."Well....after the restaurant business I was a local golf pro for about forty years until I retired two years ago. I live in South Carolina and I'm here for a golf-con....can't get away from it."
S.D......"And family?"
Heath...."Divorced twice....in the middle of a third. Five boys...eight grandkids. And how about you"
S.D......."OK I'll give it to you as cold hard fact....only actually it is warm and soft. I quit alcohol about three years after you dumped me on Forbes....I got bit in the neck that night....had to go to the doctor....that's why I didn't see you before you left."
He took a long sip of latte....paused....and continued...."I got a job in a coal-fired power plant....started at the bottom....shoveled coal for a few years....but retired from there thirty-seven years later." Heath smiled but Special Dog continued...."I married a wonderful girl....but obviously not too smart....and about ten years after that night in the bar....I saw what I was....and with the help of people put before me....I saw the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ....(pause)....forty years now Heath....and He has continued to have mercy on the lowest of the low. We have one son....married with one son....my parents had one son....we are a family history of one sons. We moved in retirement to Cape Cod....and once a month I take the train here to Manhattan to meet another old friend from Pitt. It takes the whole day but we have great fellowship. He had a death in family yesterday....and that's why I'm here alone.
Heath took that short synopsis in and said...."I'm glad to hear all that." And attempting to change the subject...."Do you golf?"
S.D......"Yes....I'm a scratch golfer....after every swing I scratch my head?"
They laughed.
Heath......."I can fix that! But not today....I am giving a presentation at the golf-con in about.....(he looked at this watch)...."in about thirty-five minutes."
Special Dog prayed for the words to say as this conversation was about to end.
S.D......"Heath....on your life swing....I can fix that! I can't carry you out but Jesus Christ can....and will....if you but give people a chance to talk to you."
Heath...."Huh! I was really dreading coming here to New York this time. I was crossing the street and felt a tug to turn and have a quick coffee. Normally I would say to you....thanks anyway....but under the circumstance....I guess that I'm willing. How do we do it....I'm flying out five hours from now?"
S.D......"I want to give you one website. There are plenty of others but this is a golf pro like no others today....kind of like the Tiger Woods of preachers....when Tiger was at the top that is....John Piper is his name.....desiringgod.org. Sometime....maybe at the airport....go there and start to read and listen. Here's my phone number and email address and a website of my own that I have....(he wrote all these addresses down on a napkin)....tomorrow is Sunday Heath....make today be the day that you ask God for help...and make tomorrow be the first lesson! I'll be in contact....(he asked for Heaths phone and email)....and you will will either be sorry you said....OK....or you will find the same loving and merciful and forgiving but powerful Savior and King that I found."
The two of them got up and hugged
S.D....."Want to see the scar on my neck from that night in the bar?"
They laughed.
Heath...."Next time!"
S.D....."One last thing Heath. On that night fifty years ago....I as a drunken bum....rolling around in the middle of the street....stopped cars on Forbes Avenue. About fifteen years later....1988.... there was a blasphemous movie out called....The Last Temptation Of Christ. The evangelical churches at the time held a silent and sober protest walk on Forbes Avenue....stopping right there in front of the King's Court Theater. You remember that theater I'm sure....and Heath....I stopped as we all marched....right where you dumped me....stopping traffic for the second time on the same spot....and I prayed a thanksgiving for His wondrous mercies!"
(That is a factual account also)
With that....Heath got up....they hugged again....and he walked out...as Special Dog just sat down and prayed....for an hour....that Heath might some day see the scars on the side of the risen Savior!
