Keeping on our toes...

I have a couple of interesting stories from my mini-vacation in Chicago this weekend, stories that have me feeling like a wuss to be honest. I just wrote this out to a family member so let me cut and paste it here and flesh it out a little.

On the back of my car, I have one of those ribbon magnets that you see on so many cars today. Mine is black with a little white "collar" at the top and says "please pray for our priests" (btw, I have about eight extras to sell for $5 each.) When I was flying out of the Springs on Friday morning, the parking lot shuttle bus driver broke the silence of the ride with: "Doesn't God take care of the priests?" I replied, "Huh?" And she said, "You have on your car, "please pray for our priests." but doesn't God take care of them?" I didn't know what to say since I was getting off the bus and folks had planes to catch. I said something like, "It never hurts to pray for them," and then she asked me what I do for a living. I just smacked my head in the terminal at what a weak answer I gave to her prayer question. Of course, I can't get into free will, miracles, power of intercession, etc... in 10 seconds... or maybe I could but I just wasn't quick enough on my feet. On the plane, I started thinking of what Archbishop Sheen would've done and said. At any rate, I'm glad God is keeping me on my toes, but I wish I had said something a little more substantial.

And on the way to a music club Saturday night I overheard a woman talking to her friends and surmizing that her neighborhood is dead because there's a Catholic Church right in the middle of it. She said she wished there was a bar or club there instead. They were walking behind me and I started thinking, did I hear what I thought I heard? And finally after getting up the nerve to turn around and say something a couple of blocks down the road, they had turned off onto another street and were gone. Uggh... God has a lot of work to do with me. I pray for the courage of St. Peter and St. Paul.

How would you have handled either or both of the above situations? Have you found yourself in similar situations? I'd love to hear your stories.