He has always been an outlier
as he sees it now in hind site.
It used to be called the “black
sheep of the family,” and he

and his sister certainly were
that as the children of the
Swedish father intruder into
the covenant Dutch family.

Then so many years later
he and his wife sat at the
bar chit chatting with those
around the corner when

a former parishioner came
up to him and hugged him
and others followed behind
her saying, “We heard the

voice but didn’t recognize
the face,” which is now
absent of hair and then they
all joined in with a serendip-

itous, impromptu love fest.
They rose from the bar and
all hugged their former pastor
who was the one who made

all those outliers feel like
inside followers of Jesus
because, in his essence,
he was an outlier, too.

They laughed and hugged
and when he knew it was
time to go, he said, in
a moment of grace, “The

Lord be with you, “ while
making the sign of the
cross and all of them
standing next to the bar

responded, “And also with
you.” As he walked to his
car, he shed a tear of
gratitude that the outliers

recognized one of their
own.