Oblivion

This week I’ve started going back to the gym early in the morning again. Shawna has changed her part time job schedule with the pregnant sickness she’s been going through so that has made it possible for me to go to the gym early – which is the best time of day to get it done. Not to mention I have some new friends who said they would see me there but they haven’t been there. That’s another story though – I’m giving them a hard time for slacking…

So I’m at the gym yesterday morning about 6:30. I notice some NewSpring folks were there, one of them being Perry. We’re all going about our business – not there to socialize. First I chose a treadmill (I like the new ones the Y has put in with TV’s on them – I can actually tolerate a treadmill like that). Next I begin to stretch a bit before starting. There are two older gentlemen on the machines to my right, and three or four people between me and Perry to my left. I’m painting a picture here in case you haven’t noticed.

All of a sudden I hear the older guys to my right talking about church stuff, and they were talking kinda loud. If Perry hadn’t had on earphones he probably would have heard them from where he was. They said some nonsense about “traditional and contemporary services” and such. Their church has tried this and that to accommodate people who like either type of service but it never works because one prevails over the other (usually the contemporary) etc. etc…

It isn’t uncommon for me to hear old-timers talking like this but when I heard the comment “we’ve lost a lot of people to NewSpring” I couldn’t believe what I heard. They weren’t really being negative as though NewSpring is a bad thing (like some people do) but the context of their “woe is me” conversation wouldn’t have been as bad if they hadn’t mentioned NewSpring. Now these guys wouldn’t know me from Adam but I would have to assume their mention of NewSpring was probably because they recognized Perry, and that’s probably what spurred the conversation in the first place.

Back to the picture… I mentioned the close proximity. I mentioned these guys were talking considerably loud. We know these guys don’t know me and they probably don’t realize they’re talking so loud. But did I mention I was wearing a BRIGHT RED NEWSPRING T-SHIRT?? For cryin out loud – these guys were oblivious.

Oblivion is probably not the most accurate way to term someone who has no clue of their surroundings, but I coined the word for that years ago when I lived in Atlanta traffic. Shawna knows that if I yell oblivious or oblivion that I’m talking about someone who is completely unaware of their surroundings or something going on around them. I am annoyed by it (even though I have no room to talk because I give others an oblivous impression sometimes because I don’t always respond to things going on around me).

Anyway, I was more and more annoyed the more these old guys talked. I wanted to look over at them and point out my bright red NewSpring t-shirt and ask them to kindly shut up about my church or I’ll fill them in on why their church is sucking wind. Instead I increased my running speed to 9.5 miles per hour so that I was the one sucking wind and couldn’t say anything to them. I felt good about doing that – both physically and mentally.

After my workout I had to experience more scarring for life in the locker room. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve read this post. I tell you – oblivion is everywhere.

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