A Preacher's Week
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia are scheduled for divine demolition. God, so this woman thinks, is angry about something in these three states. I too wish our college football programs were stronger but heavenly temper tantrums to wipe out the human race? Sean is too shrewd a businessman to invest in new air conditioning if we’re about to fall into the sea. I’m with Sean.
The cats came and went through Chairman Meow’s House of Feline Fixing and Finery. Whether the cats share an email list, Facebook account, or someone forced them to come; I haven’t heard. A couple of times a year, Chairman Meow’s House of Feline Finery stops selling collars, costumes, and that fancy litter imported from Buxton. For forty-eight hours Meow’s becomes an impromptu veterinary surgery. Fixing Felines is like learning how to make Over Laid Back Eggs; it is an art form. You need to know what you’re doing. That’s why people with college degrees, who wear shoes on a regular basis, and carry fancy titles after their names are recruited for this most delicate of tasks. Cats, particularly those with legs, hair, eyes, ears, and souls do not like to be fixed. If interviewed, most cats will tell you, “We are not broken.” Brokenness, like beauty, is in the eye of the one doing the holding.
Time seems to pick up as the week go on. Monday moves like Molasses Creek. Tuesdays are, well, Tuesdays. Who does anything much on Tuesdays? I spent the better part of the evening talking about lighting at church. Despite what you may believe, churches aren’t supposed to be dark. We like them to be well lit with energy efficient bulbs. Finding the right light, under which to sing or preach by may make all the difference in a worship service. Why do you think the Dark Ages were so dark? Intellectual darkness comes from physical darkness.
On Friday, I came to work as I always do. I walked through the door marked “office” and then entered a second door also marked “office”. The redundancy is for my benefit. I’ve been known to get lost in churches. The journey from the door one to door two takes me from the world of golf carts, traffic, and noise into the realm of religious reflection. It didn’t quite work that way this morning. The hallway, the entire back of the church, smelled like poop, waste, excrement, dung, feces, fertilizer, droppings, discharge, evacuation, stool, and generalized external defilement. Old churches smell but not like this.
The bathroom, located next to my office, had been defiled. It, and I use the term loosely, was everywhere (and I do mean everywhere). The first thing I did was make a phone call:
“Hey, it’s me”. My wife is on the other end. She’s my one phone call when I encounter poop covered rooms.
“The bathroom is covered with poop.” This means I don’t want to clean it up. My statement is really a question. Will you come do it for me?
“What do you want me to do about it?” This means the girls are coming home for lunch and I’m on my own.
“I’ll figure it out myself.” This means my next steps are to find gloves, cleaning supplies, and to talk to Jesus. I will need to come terms with this reality: I will vomit sometime in the next few minutes.
What I told Jesus:
Dear Lord,
You have got to be kidding me.
This is crazy. I didn’t sign up for this.
Who makes this kind of mess? So, what are you going to teach me about grace?
I hope whoever did this sees a gastroenterologist because they need it.
Amen, I’m going to be sick. Be right back.
Richard
