28 December 2011

An Old City Bar


Greetings Dear Reader,

Last night I had dinner at an old bar.  It was like so many that dot the Midwest. Most of the light came from the oversized flat screens that constantly stream sports of one flavor or another.  The walls and ceiling are smoke stained from the decades of time where smoking was allowed there.

I could see how many of the patrons were there more often than not.  Those at the actual bar were obviously regulars who all knew each other.  The place was quite busy for a Tuesday evening.  One could catch snippets of conversation about football, politics, and sheepshead.  For those who do not know sheepshead is a trick taking card game very popular in Wisconsin.

The comfort of the place was obvious.  The bar stools are well padded.  The foot rail is sturdy and usable.  The food is good and the beer cold.  There is no pretense or posturing.  It is just a bar.  It put me in mind of a song that is important to me as Christmas falls into the rear view and the year wanes.

The chance to change the world is never gone.  As we put away the lights and gear up for the coming year I will be looking for new ways to show the spirit of Christ in everything I do.  I am a pretty jolly guy anyway but I want to make a difference.  I want people to feel like Christmas after every encounter with me.  I want to help my neighbors and strangers.  I want to be a constant gift in the lives of others.  I have a long way to go.


In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been

In the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
And the night
Christmas Eve

And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It's easier to believe

Then the door opened wide
And a child came inside
That no one in the bar
Had seen there before

And he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our door

Then the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
To a corner streetlight

Where standing alone
By a broken pay phone
Was a girl the child said
Could no longer get home

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The bartender turned
And said, not that I care
But how would you know this?
The child said I've noticed
If one could be home
They'd be already there

Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
And in all of his life he was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register draw

Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K.
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
And we saw in his hand
That the cash was all gone
From the light that she had wished upon

If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last

By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask

Then he looked for the child
But the child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the air

So he walked back inside
Somehow different I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drink

And the cynics will say
That some neighborhood kid
Wandered in on some bums
In the world where they hid

But they weren't there
So they couldn't see
By an old neon star
On that night, Christmas Eve

When the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
And in case you should wonder
In case you should care

Why we're on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there – Trans-Siberian Orchestra



Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

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