A Moment of Fellowship in New Orleans

I have been traveling in the South for a little while, visiting family, and so I found myself in the French Quarter in very heavy traffic last saturday afternoon. The Saints were going to Play the Lions that day in a play-off game and the town was packed to the gills. In the heavy traffic, my car suddenly started steaming off the antifreeze. This had happened before and I had some antifreeze in the back to replenish what was being lost, but it was with some apprehension that I pulled over near a corner. There had been some work barriers blocking about a car's width of the street near an intersection, so I was able to get out of the traffic's way with the barriers blocking for me. It was an illegal place to park, but I wasn't just out sight-seeing, so I figured the cops would understand.

Two young men were standing on that corner as I got out and raised the hood, and one of them came over and tried to help. He said he worked in the bar across the street, and offered to go get a bar towel to help protect my hand as I took off the filler cap. He warned that I should wait a bit for it to cool down first, but it was really in a helpful spirit, not condescending at all. We stood there in pleasant conversation as the antifreeze steamed away on a beautiful warm afternoon in New Orleans.

Finally, I went to the back of the car and extracted the antifreeze bottle. When I came back, the young man had gone to get the bar towel. My fiancee then told me that he had said to her that he would have invited her to use the bathroom in his bar, but it was a gay men's bar so he didn't think it was a good idea for her to go inside. She didn't need the facilities anyway, but thought it was nice of him to mention it.

He came back presently with the towel and handed it to me, saying he had to get back to work, but to simply bring it back to him when I was done with it. The cap came off without a problem and the antifreeze was topped up. So I left my fiancee with the car and went into the bar to return the towel. It took a moment to find him in the relative darkness, but after standing in the doorway, my eyes adjusted and I went over to him. He was sitting at the bar, and I shook his hand as I thanked him again for his kindness. He kept hold of my hand and asked me, "Are you at all a religious person?"

I answered, "I believe in Jesus, and have been following him for over forty years."

He said, "Well, I hope you will understand that just because a man works in a bar, doesn't mean he can't be a nice person."

I laughed and said, "You know, Jesus wasn't afraid to have a drink of wine, and it got him into all kinds of trouble with the respectable types."

He smiled back and said, "Would you mind if I pray with you a bit?"

I told him not at all, and still holding hands, we put our heads together and prayed to the Lord, right there in this gay bar in the French Quarter. He asked for the Lord's blessing on us and our children and grandchildren, and that we would get where we were going without further trouble. I was just kind of overwhelmed with his loving kindness and all I could get out was amen and thank-you etc. It was such a lovely, innocent moment of fellowship, and I wished it could go on; but I was beginning to worry about my fiancee on the street with the car, so I wished him well and left.

I told my fiancee about it when we were on our way again, and there was no further problem with the car. I really wish I could have talked with him some more about his situation. Perhaps some day we can meet again, and Josh, if you read this post, I hope you understood how much I enjoyed our little time together.