Easter 2023

Easter Sunday at the Casa; Charlie is still in bed, recovering from her Texas trip. Duff and Titus are already vying for what attention there is to be had, and Marco is in his happy place: burrowed under the covers and between my legs. And the answer is “yes”; that is exactly as weird as it sounds.
One of my favorite stories happened a few years back, when Charlie and I were on one of our many motorcycle trips out west. We were at Wilson Arch, just south of Moab, Utah. It was insanely hot, the special brand of hot that only Moab can seem to produce; so hot that you can feel it crisp your nose hairs, so hot that Charlie was on the bike panting and not off flouncing around, as the red sandstone would possibly have burned her feet.
We were approached by a man that recognized Charlie from this page; nice enough guy, but it was obvious that he had a bit of an agenda. You know that you’re in for a ride when someone starts a conversation by telling you that they are a “thing”; that thing might be vegan, crossfit, Republicrat, Demoplican, trains, however they choose to define themselves instead of just being themselves and letting someone figure it out for without shouting it into another’s face.
This guy was direct to the point of being rude; scratch that, initially, he WAS rude. He was quick to assume that I gaveth a whit that he was an atheist and asked me point blank: “are you a Christian?”
For the last eight years, Charlie and I have been posting on this page with the intent to focus on what unites us, not what divides us. As a result, there has been a concentrated effort to leave religion and politics to those better suited to discuss such weighty matters, as we’re just a guy and a dog out for a ride.
So how do you answer such a direct question as “are you a Christian”?. For one, I believe that words mean things, and the word Christian means “Christlike”. I don’t know much, but I do know that my proclivity to flip someone the bird when cut off in traffic, or to snag the last piece of bacon in the prescence of mine enemies shows by my actions that I am very often most decidedly un-christlike.
But I do believe, I just don’t believe in forcing my beliefs on others. But in this case, I was facing a dilemma; if I returned this man’s negative energy with a blast of my own, I would cut myself off from him and he would probably never read the blog again. And that would not do. On the other hand, should I have Peter’d out and denied the truth as I feel it, he would have known I was lying to avoid further confrontation, and that wouldn’t do either. So again, how do I answer such a question?
What do YOU think? No, that’s not a question to you, but my answer to him. Some may think that that answer was a bit passive-aggressive on my part, but I strongly disagree; it wasn’t my job to tell him or anyone else how or what to believe, but to encourage them to seek their own path.
People remember little of what you say, more by what you do, but most by how you make them feel. I remained friends with that man until we lost contact during the Covocalypse; I hope that he’s still with us, sees this post and we can someday meet again.
We be of one blood, ye and I