Yeah, I pretty much know what He would do. So I'm posing the question to you. Oh Faithful Readers (and new readers, too - hey, I don't discriminate).
I had a little 'altercation' this weekend. And beings that I like to post Sunday Sermons on Other Days of the Week, why not on Monday? This is my Monday Sermon. But not On The Mount. Instead, On The Trail. The 1/2 Marathon Trail.
Imagine with me, if you will, this scene: two innocent and lovely mothers of four children each sprinting (yeah, dream, Baby) along a wooded yet sun-drenched trail one Saturday morning soon after a fireball rose peacefully in the east...
Add: 85 degree heat, and humidity at the same level. And water bottles unassumingly... quite mistakenly ...emptied well before the end of their 9 mile goal.
Ahead: a Mecca in the distance. The shimmering lights of a full service automotive station off to the Left.
Zoom in and Join them inside the dingy, grimy confines of a building haunted by too many oil changes and forgotten cigarettes tossed into the shadows of the linoleum tiled floor. 'Ah,' thinks Mom #1. 'A coffee machine. Free coffee for patrons. I'm not a *patron*, but one little cup couldn't hurt to fill with a little sweet refreshment from that *gulp* bathroom sink...OK, maybe I'll take two to share the liquid gold with Mom #2.'
Mom #1 exits said building through glass shop door, handing a half-full cup of refreshment (cuz she's just that optimistic) to her Running Partner.
Enter: Raging, Red-faced Shop Owner running out one of two garage doors into center of parking lot, sputtering about the injustice of catering to multitudes of trail-goers and the cost of styrofoam coffee cups going out the door at alarming rates...
Mommy #1: Oh Golly. I'm so sorry. Couldn't I just have a little water...I only took a cup for each of us. We just didn't anticipate the humidity...
Enraged Shop Owner: I can't be givin' water to every last person on this trail. Can you imagine how much money I would be out if I gave everyone a cup of water that went past my shop every day?
Mommy #1: Oh, sure. I really didn't mean to cause any trouble. I tell you what - you're on ____ Road, right? I'll make it back to my car now with your generous (*tiny*) cup of water and I'll come back and pay you for it!
Contradictory Shop Owner: It's not about the money (what the @%*&@#%&?!?!?!?! Didn't you just say it was about the money??) I'm just sayin' I can't be givin' every one of you a cup from my shop.
Mommy #1: Um. OK. Here. (she sets cups back inside shop on the floor and starts to walk back to trail)
Voice of ShopOwner trails off with sentences like 'no one's gonna drink that water now. Just take it...' coming from his well-hydrated lips.
********************************************************
Here's the deal. Our sermon message Sunday morning (from the church whose mission statement reads: Reaching and Equipping People to Think and Act Like Jesus) was titled Righteousness: Being in the Zone.
I already know what I am going to do regarding my altercation. But I'm wondering what you would do. Leave a message - or just check back late Monday and I'll (hopefully) be able to tell you what I've done.
