Skip to main content

I Saw a Man Sitting On a Bench in Allison Park


Allison Park is in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, overlooking the Hudson River

I saw a man sitting on a bench in Allison Park
Rain was pouring down from the skies
Tears were running down his face from his eyes
The sky was misty, gray.
Fog was everywhere, enveloping the man, his world, his town.

Not far away were lovers in a car.
Not sure if they meant to go for a walk, but not today.
Rained in.
They didn't care.

A man is sitting in maroon Ford Taurus with the windows halfway down.
He's reading the newspaper.
He seems to be reading the weather forecast--
"Mostly sunny, high of 74."
He chuckles and thinks to himself, "It's pouring down rain and 61--so what, didn't affect me!"

The man got up from the bench to go for a walk.
The trail was different--new trees in the place where he used to pray.
"I should come here more often," he thought to himself.
But he probably won't. He's not the pastor anymore.

I saw a man sitting on a bench in Allison Park.
He went for a little walk in the rain, then he left.
The sky was misty, gray, just like his life.
Fog was everywhere, enveloping the man, his world, his town.

Chris Rainey ©2009

Popular posts from this blog

My Reflections on My UPS Career on Founders Day

We were given a choice whether or not those of us who were having a milestone service year wanted to speak on Founders Day in our department meeting. Since the one consistent feedback I have gotten during my entire 25-year career at UPS was that I don’t speak up enough in meetings, I thought I would make up for the whole thing here today. No one intends to have a long career at UPS. You come to work at UPS as a temporary thing while you are planning your life. Those plans do not include UPS. We come for the benefits, the tuition assistance, the non-standard hours that don’t interfere with classes or our other real jobs. Parents don’t envision their kids growing up and working for UPS. I think these are just the basic realities of life. I worked the majority of my career in Information Services Learning & Development or Corp HR Learning & Development. I would have never lasted 25 years had I been in Operations. I know exactly how long I would have lasted in Operations had I wo...

My Prayer Life Is Like, "Whack" (-a-Mole)

 I’ve been a practicing Christian my entire adult life, and one would think that would result in a certain level of proficiency in certain practices such as what often occurs when one plays golf, tennis, or does various other activities on a regular basis. Prayer is not like this for me though. Prayer is like whack-a-mole. As soon as I knock down a mole that pops up--some sort of obstacle to my praying--another mole rises in its place. "Whack-a-mole" is exactly how I would describe my prayer life, a daily whacking away at things that prevent prayer.

The Power of Public Prayers

“Jewish law prefers that Jews pray communally rather than privately.” Joseph Telushkin, “Minyan,” in  Jewish Literacy , 719. I’ve been thinking about this notion for a few days after I read it because I get the impression that most of the Christians I know pray individually and about their own self interests more than anything else. I know this is true of me. But Telushkin, reiterating the teachings of the rabbis in connecting Jewish prayer to the concept of  minyan , where the minimum number of males required to conduct a worship service or say certain prayers is ten, says that public prayer prevents such personal expressions of self-interest. He says:  " . . . the rabbis apparently felt that public prayers are more apt to be offered for that which benefits the entire community, whereas individuals often pray for that which benefits only themselves, even if it be at the expense of someone else" (719). In Evangelical or Pentecostal services that I've attended, at some...