Full of love and friendship, pain and joy and mostly full of people who share a common love for the One who created the world and the Son who sacrificed his life so we could be with him.
But still at times a funny place.
Two short stories.
A few years ago I had an accident where I fell out of a tree and suffered some relatively serious injuries. 4 Broken ribs and a punctured lung, along with a wife who was mad at me for falling. It happened on a Saturday and of course they announced it the following Sunday at two local churches where Shar and I were active. Two weeks later when I was able to return to church, it was a Sunday morning and I slipped into the back of the church and sat without bringing any attention to myself. The preacher, who is a buddy of mine noticed me and before his sermon announced my attendance to the congregation. The members turned and looked and then began to clap, like I had done something. I was grateful and appreciative, but did not think my attendance to church deserved applause. But I accepted it.
This past Wednesday night was my first time to be at Wednesday night church since mid July. I skipped small group and quietly sat in the back of the church by myself while Shar taught class. When the preacher began to speak he mentioned that several from the church had participated in a marathon and half marathon in San Antonio. He mentioned my good friend Dave who is a minister of something, and then began to relay to the crowd there that Dave had completed the marathon and had qualified for the Boston Marathon. Instantly the crowd began to clap and carry out a rather long applause for Dave completing this task. I knew Dave was not there so I did not clap, but I am proud of him. The greatest moment was when the preacher said that he hated Dave for his success in running the marathon with such success, and then explained that scripture tells us to "walk by faith" and not to run.
