The Excited Evangelist

It was a late summer evening but already pitch black when I found myself sitting on a bench in Miyashita Park. I had walked around the Shibuya area to kill time for a good couple of hours and found myself quite exhausted. As I was sitting, with my eyes closed, and simply enjoying the night breeze I suddenly heard a loud voice “I just love him, I love God so much, I wish you could experience the love I feel from him every day”. Startled, I opened my eyes and in front of me were three North Americans, one bemused looking tattooed fella, one lanky proud looking boyfriend, and a petite young woman jumping up and down while professing her love for God.

It looked as if the bemused looking tattooed fella had simply bumped into the evangelist couple by chance and was politely listening to the young woman’s flood of devotion. He was very nice about it but did look a little as if he wanted the earth to swallow him whole. The lanky boyfriend was much the wallflower, smiling at his impassioned girlfriend throughout the exchange.

Finally, after a good ten minutes of “I love God and everything he does for us. I feel so lucky to feel his embrace around me on a daily basis. I wish everyone could feel as close to God as I do, I just want everyone to feel his love inside them, oh my god I just love him so much,” the bemused tattooed fella broke the spell with a “uhm sorry, I do actually have to go now, please enjoy the rest of your night.” The young woman beamed at him and then bounced off down the escalators with her lanky boyfriend.

I am not a religious person myself, but was amused by the fervour of her love for God, I wish I could love something with even an ounce of her unfettered passion. Sadly, my cynicism only allows for a sliver of joy on a fortnightly basis.