I couldn’t sleep last night, and my mind got stuck on the story of creation in Genesis. For some reason the thought occurred to me that what God basically gave us in creation was 1) Time and 2) Space ( But I substitute ‘place’ for ‘space’ because it’s funnier to say ‘God T.P.ed the Universe’ than to say ‘God T.S.ed the Universe’ . . . I don’t even know what T.S. would stand for ???) So the first two things God gave us were 1) Time and 2) Place.

Most of the things that are important to us have a specific Time and a Place: Work, School, Hobbies such as Band, Track, and Theater. Even when we get together with friends we usually begin by defining a Time and a Place.

When I first took this job I had a difficult time remembering to assign a specific Place for the various meetings I set up. Once, I arranged a meeting with a woman named Lisa who was interested in working with the youth ministry. We set up an appointment for 4pm at church. When 4pm rolled around, it dawned on me that I didn’t know where on the church grounds we were supposed to meet! I went to the foyer, and then popped my head into Flanagan Hall before heading outside to scan both our massive parking lots . . which are located on opposite sides of our church. Then to the school’s office and the church’s offices (At the time, our church’s office building was being renovated so the staff’s offices were set up in three different locations: The Rectory, a trailer, and a random room in the school.) I walked around the campus for 15 minutes before I bumped into Lisa. Needless to say, she was not impressed with my organizational skills and decided not to join the youth ministry team. I had the Time down, but not the Place.

This semester we have been focusing most of our High School meetings on prayer. I have been telling our students that they need to T.P. their prayer life. That is, assign a specific Time and a specific Place to pray each day. (I actually got this advice from some of our noted prayers: St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.) I didn’t realize it then, but what I was essentially telling our teens is that they need to begin the same way God did; we start by giving back to him the first things he gave to us: Time and Place. God set the standard when he T.P.ed the Universe, and we follow his example when we T.P. it as well.

My baby started walking today!!!

This morning he took one tentative step then stumbled forward another two before falling on his knees. But he keeps trying and this afternoon he took four solid steps from Gina to the couch.

Awesome.

So . . . I was at Taco Bell waiting for my food when an employee called out 187. Mr. 187 was at the soda fountain filling up his drink so he didn’t hear his number called. After a couple seconds the employee called out 187 again, but now the guy was searching for the right sized lid, and we all know how obnoxiously difficult that can be, so he still didn’t hear his number called.

I decided to be Mr. Nice Guy by getting his attention and saying, “Your food is ready.” To which he responded by making a rude hand gesture using the hand-under-the-chin technique.

I was shocked, speechless and ate lunch brooding over the jerky response that guy gave me when I was just trying to be helpful.

Half an hour later, while the stomach acid was starting to creep up my throat, all the puzzle pieces clicked together. Mr. 187 was deaf, and Mr. Nice Guy is blind.

That’s why he didn’t hear his number called out, and the rude hand-under-the-chin gesture is similar enough to the sign for “thank you” that I didn’t notice the difference; I was too busy patting myself on the back for being Mr. Nice Guy to pay any attention to the person I was actually trying to help.

But, the good news is my heart burn is gone.