Friendship Through Bumper Stickers

Today I made a new friend in a strange way. Those of you who know me, know that this is not uncommon, and that even though I expect that I will meet people in unexpected ways, I still manage to be surprised every time.

I arrived just shy of late for church today and couldn’t find a place to park in our little parking lot. The result of this seemingly insignificant happening was that I needed to walk through the parking lot to get to the front door of the church. While walking through I noticed what looked like a political bumper sticker, with red and blue prominent, on one of the cars. There was something different about it, however, instead of a party, or political message, it simply said: If a Song Could Be President, coupled with two names I didn’t quite recognize from road signs and the radio campaigns. I walked a couple of steps forward before it hit me. This was an Over the Rhine bumper sticker. They are probably my favorite band of all time. It is very rare for me to meet someone who has heard of them, let alone loves them enough to put a bumper sticker on their car. (Since my car technically is shared between my mother and I, I stick to my OTR t-shirt). Immediately, I knew that I would have to figure out who this person was and become friends with them.

My opportunity came when I discreetly asked Father Jerry to see if he could identify the car. He could not recall who drove it, but as we stood there, staring at it, our choir director and her family came outside and moved to enter it. Father Jerry explained my odd quest, and her eyes lit up. She too was an avid Over the Rhine fan. She too was always looking for someone to drive to concerts with her. She too found that the lyrics spoke to her soul at all time of her life. C.S. Lewis once said that finding a friend means that you find someone who says: “What? You too? I thought I was the only one!” This was one of those moments.

I’m excited to see what happens here, and would like to say a special word of thanks to Over the Rhine, bumper stickers, and the Lord, who has quite a sense of story, and humor.