There is a funny story about Karl Barth, one of the most famous theologians of the 20th century. He was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland, where he lived and lectured. A tourist to the city climbed on the streetcar and sat down next to Barth. The two men started chatting with each other. “Are you new to the city?” Barth inquired. “Yes,” said the tourist. “Is there anything you would particularly like to see while you are here?” asked Barth.  “Yes, indeed,” he replied. “I’d love to meet the famous theologian, Karl Barth. Do you know him or where I can find him to meet him?” Barth replied, “Well as a matter of fact I do. I give him a shave every morning.” Just then the streetcar comes to a stop and the tourist gets off quite delighted. He couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to tell his wife that he met Karl Barth’s barber.

This story amuses me. The tourist was in the very presence of the one he wanted to meet most, and even with an obvious clue, he never realized he was talking to the great theologian Karl Barth himself.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been looking for something or even someone and it was right there in front of you the whole time? My dad used to say in those times growing up when I would overlook the obvious, “if it was a snake, it would have bit you!” I still often overlook the obvious, but I am trying to do better, to be better, to take in the spoken and the unspoken. To not rush so quickly to judgement or race by people and places in a mad dash to the next thing so as to take in the beauty of the moment. I’m not there yet. I am a work in progress.

On the journey,
Ramonalynn Bethley

Ramonalynn Bethley is the Lead Pastor at First United Methodist Church of Alexandria. You can contact Ramonalynn directly at DrRevRL@fumca.org.