In the parking lot of Michael's yesterday, a young girl carrying a book approached me. I stopped to hear what she had to say. Smiling real big, she said she'd like to invite me to church Sunday. I responded by telling her I'd be attending my own church on Sunday. She asked me which one, and I told her. I asked which church she belonged to, and she pulled back her lapel to show a badge with the words, Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which indicated our beliefs differ. We exchanged a few more niceties and then went our separate ways.
Last night I thought back to that encounter and kicked myself in the behind, because I always think of what I should have said long after the opportunity has gone by. I am just like Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly, in one of my favorite old movies, You've Got Mail. Kathleen could never think of the words she needed to say to her bookstore rival and suitor, Joe Foxx, until the conversation had ended, and it was too late. I suffer from the same malfunction.
I wish I had invited the Bible-toting girl to my church on Sunday, but I did not think to do so. I wish I could think fast on my feet like some other people I know. Once in a while I can, but in this instance, I totally missed an opportunity.
If we had continued talking, she might have come to my church .. we might have become friends ...