When he gave the all-clear, I went back to his office and was greeted by a shaking head. "I feel so bad..." he kept saying. "I thought she wanted some sort of couseling, and I don't have time for that... I've got to get through my sermon five or six times tonight..."
He gave me an overview--that she had needed financial assistance, and three other churches had turned her down.
"That made me feel even worse," he moaned. "I started thinking, 'Why are you doing this to me today, God?'"
And I couldn't help but laugh at him.
"What's your sermon topic...?"
He grimaced. "AIDS, human trafficking, and...poverty..."
I laughed more...but it stung, me, too. I'd gotten to church all gung-ho about the visual aids project, then got delayed for more than ten minutes. Why was this lady infringing on my time? I was on a mission to put up signage relating stats of how many people in our world don't have electricity, how many don't have clean water, how many live on $2 a day...
Walking through the darkened halls of church a while after that, I thought more as I hung my signs.
- 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
- 1.8 billion people have access to a water source within about a ½ mile of home. They consume around 5½ gallons per day. The highest average water use in the world is in the U.S., at almost 160 gallons per day.
I got home, turned on the tap, and splashed my fingers through it as I waited for them to register the concept of "cold." My hand suddenly shot forward with my glass; a few seconds later, I turned the water off.
- About 1.6 million children under the age of five die each year from diseases such as cholera and typhoid, which are caused by dirty drinking water.
2 comments:
I know I don't know the "full picture" of His Highness and this woman that needed help, but didn't the fact that his sermon was on "...poverty..." slap him in the face? Did he not have what the church could provide this woman? Is food what she needed? Maybe was it some prayer?
I know a lot of strays come into churches. I know they ask for too much a lot of the time, but was this the case this time?
Sometimes when I see people, such as this woman (who I am picturing in my mind), I always wonder if it's Jesus, just testing us out.
Like the song by Cris Rice says: "But when I stoop down low and look him square in the eye, I get the funny feelin', that I might be dealin' with the face of Christ......"
Just my two cents, :)
~B
Highness did get slapped, and faced up to it humbly in both services Sunday morning. "Don't do what I did," he cautioned the congregation after relating the story.
In his defense, there are church politics to go through. He's not the head pastor, and there's protocol to follow in taking care of financial needs. He did get the lady hooked up with some monetary provisions. So--she was clear, for the time being, but it was his attitude and mine that didn't do so well on the "pop quiz for hotshots." We're learning. :)
Post a Comment