{"id":70,"date":"2021-11-30T21:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stillsittingjohn.com\/?p=70"},"modified":"2021-11-30T21:11:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:11:25","slug":"a-serious-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillsittingjohn.com\/?p=70","title":{"rendered":"A Serious Child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By John Cowan S.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have just finished with Christmas and its story of God coming down in the form of a little child into Bethlehem. Any scripture scholar of merit will tell you that that entire story is total fiction. Did not happen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nevertheless I realize that it is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only thing wrong about this story is that it is too spare and narrow. The truth I realize is: \u201cIn every child, in every place, God comes down always.\u201d We just noticed this coming more because this particular child grew up as a shock to the system.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;The other day at the New Louisiana Caf\u00e9, (\u201cNew\u201d since it moved fifty years ago,) I had a feeling that I was about to be stood up. This friend has stood me up before. Back when I was younger and had more energy for the worthless I would think about the situation and work myself into a stew about the outrageous disrespect involved in slighting me. Lately however I focus on my feelings and ask myself \u201cAm I really angry?\u201d Nine times out of ten, I really am not, so I just go on with life. I recommend this little process. Saves a lot of trouble.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So having nothing to do while I stalled the few minutes required to justify to myself and any attentive bystander that I can ignore the absence of the putative owner of the plate across the table and order my own food, I saw a nearby opportunity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I played a game with God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She dropped her menu from the table and I stepped across the aisle, squatted down, picked it up, and replaced it. She then dropped it again.&nbsp; Expecting this I had not left my place by her side and my squatting position. I again replaced it. Her father said, \u201cI see you have been seduced into my daughter\u2019s game\u201d, and I said, \u201cNo, she has been seduced into mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I won. On the sixth try she gave up. Take that God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I commented to her father that she did not smile. He said, \u201cShe is a very serious child.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I said, \u201cSo am I.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Cowan S.C. We have just finished with Christmas and its story of God coming down in the form of a little child into&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stillsittingjohn.com\/?p=70\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Serious Child<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Serious Child - John Cowan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stillsittingjohn.com\/?p=70\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Serious Child - John Cowan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Cowan S.C. 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