Godincidence in Hollyweird

(January 2004)

Tonight, as I drove home from a chiropractic analysis in Hollywood, I decided to amuse myself in traffic. I wanted to do something weird and unusual. Perhaps in the back of my mind I wanted to fit in—they don’t call it Hollyweird for nothing. So I took my guitar from the case on the passenger seat and put the case in the back seat to make room for my elbow when I played. I rolled down the window, stuck the neck partly out into the cold air, and started to play, hoping that the temperature difference wouldn’t detune the guitar. At every stoplight I positioned the guitar with the neck and left hand out the window, and played a melody. Most only lasted 15 seconds or so, because by then the light would turn green and the herd of cars would begin to move. Strangely, I didn’t feel out of character doing this. Normally, I’m not the kind of guy who willingly makes himself look like an oddball or eccentric. But I was just doing what I wanted.

To my surprise, I found myself hoping to have to stop at red lights! That goes against everything my driving personality believes. To me, driving is always a game. The object: maximum distance in minimal time, which means to be vigilantly looking (up to 300 yards ahead) for drivers who could throw a wrench in my plans or ruin my envisioned route. This game entails that I avoid red lights at all costs (within the reasonable bounds of common decency, of course). With the guitar in hand, however, driving was no longer a game. It had become a silly, fun, avant garde art form called drive-by music. And red lights no longer stressed me.

So I started to wonder, what does this look like to other people? Does anyone else do this? Not a second later, there came the answer to my question. I looked to my right and saw a man in a parked car two lanes over, playing his guitar with the neck sticking out the window. I noticed his license plate, which simply said, “JEWISH,” and then I saw the familiar long beard and yarmulke. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I like to look at these incidences, which seem to happen to me quite often, as God’s fun way of reminding me of His sovereignty. Perhaps the Holy Spirit moved me to take out the guitar, knowing that I would drive past and see the Jewish man doing the same a few minutes later.