by David Melton
Like so many days, I spent last night traveling home — to Boston. On the way home I thought a good bit about the National BBFI Meeting we are privileged to host in September of this year. I hope many of you from across the nation and around the world will come to our place. Experience Boston Baptist College and take some joy in what you have helped us to do for the Lord here. And we want you to see and experience Boston — our city — to enjoy it, and maybe even learn to love it.
So here are a few quirks, travel tips, and local “rules of the road” that might help you be a “Bostonian” — at least for a few days in September.
1. Dunkin Donuts is about the coffee, donuts are just kind of thrown in with the mix. This is almost like a morning religious ritual.
2. If you use the bathroom in somebody’s house, the light switch is most likely outside the door. (I have no idea why, but I’m just saying.)
3. Don’t guess at how to say the names of the suburbs — you’ll inevitably embarrass yourself with locals. Our hotel block is in Dedham (pronounced “Dead-um,” but the Celtics practice in Waltham (“pronounced Wall–tham” not “Walth-um” as in “Dead-um”). Ask one of us and we’ll tell you how to say it right so you don’t look so much like a tourist.
4. Driving on the shoulder is actually legal on some roads during some hours of the day. (On second thought, maybe you better not try that one!)
5. New York is not New England. That’s one mistake not to be made around here during baseball season.
6. Many of our streets do not have street signs. We know the name of our streets so who needs signs?
7. Nobody “pahks their cah in Hahvahd Yahd” — it has an iron fence all the way around it. I’m not sure where this one got started but pretty sure it was from somewhere outside of New England. (Sounds like somebody in New York to me!)
8. We aren’t mean or rude. We are “private” and “blunt.” (Actually, if you start any conversation with a “How’s it going?” and then “See the Sox last night?” you may well be surprised at how much help you get — that’s kind of our own “Shibboleth.” Oh, and do not smile too much — dead giveaway that you are from down south somewhere!)
9. Ooh and aah about our history stuff and we practically turn into putty in your hand.
10. If you do drive, and come to a rotary, obey the yield signs if there are any. (I’m laughing at you. We drive through rotaries by look ing straight ahead, making no eye contact with other drivers, and pretending that we are the only car there. If you’ll just sit at your yield sign, we can get ahead of you!)
Okay, enough of that. Some things you’ll just have to learn on your own. How about just a little serious advice?
1. Meet our students. Understand that almost all of them will never have seen so many pastors in one place before, so please cut them a little slack — but we want you to meet our students and hear their stories and see their hearts for God.
2. Meet some New England pastors. Don’t limit yourself to names you’ve heard. Make it a goal to meet a New England pastor you have never heard of before. Bill, Tim, Bob, Walt — lots of guys I know will be around, and I want you to meet them. For the most part they are totally unheralded men of God who have faithfully given their lives to communities where Christ is virtually unknown. They are heroes.
3. See what isn’t there. Crazy, huh? But notice as you travel around how little active, biblical Christianity you see here. That’s the problem. That’s why we have churches, students, and Boston Baptist College here. In our place. Boston.