Life is Funny

We like to borrow a popular TV channel motto for our church: Characters Welcome. And boy, do we have some.  Clint likes to write poetry. He peppers his poems with pop culture references.  Our folks are not always up to date on pop culture.  Today's recitation included this line: "...faith as firm as Al Sharpton's perm...!" I try to temper some of the references so they don't fly right over our heads - one poem included two names I didn't recognize at all. I asked Clint who they were. He said, "That one's a rapper, and that other guy is a wrestler." I suggested that he come up with something more understandable and this is what he decided on: "If I was Mike Tyson, just call me John MacArthur" (talking about a transformed life). As soon as I was out of range I laughed 'til I cried!

I do a lot of that kind of laughing around here. In fact, I believe God has given us a lot of humor in our lives to counteract the drama. Maybe that's why he gave us Garland, who gripped the side of the tub during his baptism and refused to go down. Mike pushed on his chest, Garland gripped harder, they struggled, Mike won, and Garland came up with a shout and a big grin.

Then there's "Doggy" the cussin' puppet. We didn't see that one coming. A woman who had been attending for a while said she had some experience with puppeteering, and would be glad to help with our Vacation Bible School promotion. So we set her up one Sunday morning to be interviewed by one of our teenagers, Kim. Kim said to Doggy, "Doggy, did you hear the news? We're having Vacation Bible School next week!" "OMG!!!!" said Doggy, "OMG!!!! That was about all that dog knew how to say, and he said the words, and he said them a lot.

Sometimes funny things don't seem as funny at the time as they do when we reminisce, like the Doggy story. And the one about the time that Mike decided to rest his head on his desk for a quick nap. He drifted off and later woke up to see a woman sitting across from him. He put his head back down for a moment and then came fully awake. He popped his head back up and wiped drool from the side of his mouth. Asked the woman how long she had been there. "Oh, about 3o minutes." Evidently, she figured he needed his sleep.

One Sunday evening, a man came in to the service a few minutes after it started. He settled into his seat and then we heard the pop of a soda can opening, and then "glug, glug, glug." It struck me so funny that hysterical laughter threatened to bubble up. The sides of my lips were twitching and a snort almost escaped. Had that same feeling when I noticed Mike was wearing two different shoes one Sunday morning, about halfway through the sermon. Little Bubba saw me losing control and squeezed my hand in support for about 5 minutes until I was able to simmer down. Mike doesn't remember doing that, which probably means I didn't have the heart to tell him; like the time he started snacking on peanuts from which I had sucked the salt off and discarded in a bowl.

An older couple that occasionally visited offered to sing a song just about every time they came. Mike usually turned them down gently, but one Sunday they wore him down. "We're ready to sing! My guitar is in the car! We sure would love to sing!" They stepped onto the stage and said, "Now y'all pray for us, Pastor asked us to sing and we haven't practiced in months...."

Little Bubba was discussing the subject of backsliding with a 60ish woman who lived like the devil. Bubba told her that personal backsliding wasn't in the Bible. "Oh yes, it is," she responded, "Jesus was married to a backslider. I know my Bible, Beth."