But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you,
Matthew 5:44 esv
There he was.
Standing on my front porch in all his angry glory.
Moments before he had attacked my front door. There is no
other term for it. There was no knocking involved. When his hand connected with
my door, the frame shook, the windows rattled, and the sound carried to the
neighbors house.
It sounded like the person on the other side intended to
come in whether I let them in or not. The angry pounding should have been my
first clue but I did what anyone would.
I opened the door.
To be greeted by a man that was wearing attitude like most
men wear shirts. He glared at me, his city ID tag proudly displayed around his
neck, and started very nearly yelling at me and calling me by someone else’s
name.
When I told him I wasn’t Joanie, he gave me a look that
implied I was lying, and launched into another tirade. I tried to be nice, really
I did. I politely informed him I wasn’t Joanie, to no avail.
This man had it in for me whether I was Joanie or not. I’d
like to be able to give him the benefit of the doubt and say maybe he was
having a bad day but with this man, that isn’t the case. He works for the city I
live in and I’ve seen him around town. I have never been on the receiving end
of his attitude before but I have had one other encounter with him. When I helped
another woman at the city hall inform him that what he was demanding she do
went against city ordinance.
This time though, I was the sole recipient of all that
attitude. He glared, he glowered, and he snarled.
There is no way this man meets hero requirements. He is the
type of person that makes you want to cross the street to keep from being in
his presence. He can make small children cry and hide with just a look. He is
the man a writer casts as outlaw in a manuscript.
And he would make a good outlaw.
But what do you do when an outlaw worthy person is snarling
at you from your own porch.
Say whatever you have to and shut the door!
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