My Friend Bob

I have to start by telling you that my friend Bob L. is one of those people who has "interesting" situations looking for him. He asked when was the best time to plant a back yard garden. Some of the older men told him to "plant by the full moon." Sure enough, the next full moon Bob was out in his back yard after dark with a roto-tiller.

He called our mutual friend, Doug, one day to help him put up a privacy fence. Doug says he pulled in the driveway and saw that Bob had dug the holes for the posts, and had completely assembled the back wall of the fence, laying on the ground. Doug got back in his truck and left.

So now you know a bit about Bob. He and I were talking about church league softball one day. Now Bob at that time was, as the Daniel Boone theme song says, a big, big man. He played first base and did quite well. He told me about one game against the local Pentecostal Church where he was minding his post at first base when the batter hit a line drive right down the base line, and into Bob’s knee. He said, “I’ve never experienced pain like that, I fell like a big tree. I couldn’t move because of the pain.”

The batter immediately called for a time out. He and his teammates rushed to Bob’s side. Bob lay on the ground, unable to move, desiring to be left alone. The batter apologetically said, “I am so sorry Brother, what can we do to help you?" Bob answered, "Nothing, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just let me lay here." The batter paced around, truly desiring to do anything to bring comfort, "Can we at least move you off of the clay and over to the grass?” Bob answered, “Whatever, I don’t care, whatever.” The opposing team gathered around and hoisted him up, depositing him some ten feet away onto the grass where he lay, still in pain.

The batter again approached Bob, “Brother, I know we practice our faiths differently, but, would you mind if we laid hands on you and prayed for you?” Bob responded, “Whatever, I don’t care, whatever.” They gathered around and laid hands on Bob and began to pray. In Bob’s own words, “They were praying for about 30 seconds when I came off the ground, jumping and shouting. Then they all started jumping, shouting, celebrating and Praising God.” I said, “Wow, that’s pretty cool.” “Yeah,” He said, “they had laid me in an ant bed.”