We saw Steve Martin!

Here’s what I love:

We saw Steve Martin. 

Last Saturday, I was visiting my friend Julie in New Jersey.  We took a day to go into Manhattan to hang out and then see my brother and his wife and my sweet 1 year-old niece.  It was sure to be a lovely day.  We arrived in the city with a few hours before our scheduled rendezvous with my family.  So, we headed to the West Village and ate brunch at a charming café where we sat outside watching the people walk along Amsterdam Ave.

After our delicious brunch, we took a walk around to take pictures and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather in the city.  That’s when we saw Steve Martin.

We weren’t even looking for him.  I was actually focused on taking a picture of a lovely, ornate street lamp and the divided sidewalk, which I was convinced was in a scene in my favorite movie: You’ve Got Mail.  In that scene, Meg Ryan is walking down one side of the sidewalk and Tom Hanks is walking along the other, but they cross without knowing it. 

Now, I was at the tip of the triangle, formed by the two sidewalks coming towards each other.  I was trying to get a good photograph, but there was a giant blue trashcan in my shot.  So, I kept scooting back and over to cut the trash can out of the frame. 

Meanwhile, Julie came to stand near me and we were both looking up the street, past the gentleman walking directly towards us.  When he was about 2 feet away, I focused in on him because I noticed he was smiling at Julie.  I thought maybe it was someone she knew.  We were directly in his way as he was trying to get to the crosswalk, so, he had to side-step me and walk between us.  When I saw his profile as he breezed past me, I realized it was Steve Martin!  Julie saw him too and after he passed we both looked at each other with eyes wide and mouths open in shock. 

We quickly came together and said simultaneously:

“Was that…”—

“It was Steve Martin!”

“Squeeealllll!!!”

We seriously both squealed like two 12 year olds who had just seen Justin Beiber.  Julie is not a squealer, but she squealed just like me!

It was so exciting!!

Why? 

Maybe because he’s a famous actor who is in a lot of funny, fun movies that we both love.  Also, we were not expecting to see him and he was truly directly in front of us—we could have literally reached out and touched him.

So, we did what everyone does when they see a famous person—we told everyone we knew.  We texted our husbands and I put it on FaceBook. 

In the year of King Uzziah’s death, Isaiah saw the Lord—sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple.

The whole scene was a tad more dramatic than seeing Steve Martin on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

In fact, our experience was more like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Who were not expecting to see Jesus, but when they realized who had been there with them—walking with them and eating with them, they said: “were our hearts not burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road…”  Then, they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and told all their friends about their experience walking down the road with Jesus.

Today, I am praying for encounters with Jesus like that.  Perhaps it will be tomorrow in the “temple” when I go to church to worship—maybe I will experience His power and majesty like Isaiah. 

Maybe it will be today while the girls and I play outside.  Maybe I will be focused on a problem that is like that blue trashcan in the way of my photograph.  Maybe I will be consumed with what I deem to be a perfect day—then, when I least expect it, Jesus will walk right into our midst. 

Maybe the girls will ask about something in the Bible and Jesus will help me explain it to my daughters. 

Either way, I pray that my heart will burn within me—that I will squeal at the closeness of the Living God.  And I hope that like Isaiah and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, that I will hurry to tell others about my encounter with Him.