Jonathan's Song

I went to eat dinner in downtown Greenville last night with the three most amazing guys ever, these happen to be the guys I am traveling overseas with for the month of January. This was a very important time that we had set aside to fellowship together and plan out all the last minute detials of our trip, since the next time we saw each other would be time to go. Then we met Jonathan outside of Barleys and he came to dinner with us. A homeless man in his late 30's, Jonathan was weathered by life. He told us stories of where he had been, what he had done and what he wanted to do. He sang some songs for us, hard to hear because he didn't speak loudly and the restaurant was noisy. He had lived his whole life in Greenville and he wanted to go to Hollywood and become a musician. Jonathan sat accross from me and I watched as he gazed out of the window by our table between bites of pizza, giving you the impression that his thoughts were more satisifying than his free meal. I never could determine whether the thoughts that he was entertaining as he gazed out were over the regrets of the past or for hopes of better days, because I have learned that both of those seem to be stronger than the present. If the present was on his mind he would have been scarfing down his pizza. This is music. Music speaks more strongly about the past and the future than we ever could about the present. Jonathan sang to us last night "from his heart" he said. But I have a feeling that if his heart could sing it would have much more to say than any song could contain.