Sunday morning we picked up several folks from the "retirement lodge" and took them to church. Then after Sunday School some of them prefer to return and not stay for the worship service so we shuttle them back, no news there. Well, after the service we were driving the remaining two, a sweet lady in her nineties and a gentleman who is notorious for not being able to hear anything, back to the lodge and they were discussing how our new pastor (he has been there about 18 months) is hard for them to hear and understand. The man said that he uses a listening device that picks up a broadcast from the sound system and he is able to hear much better that way. The lady looked at the little box and said she would have to get one (she has one, she has used it at church before she has just forgotten). Then she asked if he had a hearing aid. He said, "Oh, yeah. I keep it in my pocket." Th guy driving said, "Oh, that's a good place for it". Don't worry, they didn't hear him. No wonder he can't ever hear us when we talk to him.
OK, so maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, Sunday evening I had a meeting with a group that has been working on some long term planning for the church. The meeting was supposed to last from 7:00-8:30 but went from about 7:15-10:00, but that is not relevant to this story. We were sharing some things about what the different sub-groups had been working on and toward the end one lady, who is a great lady but is a little....well, out there sometimes, decided she needed to share. She was talking about good things that had been going on in the church and how some ministries were going, which was good because the meeting had been a little dry and somewhat tense until then so this lightened the mood a bit. Well, she ended with this great story. She said:
A couple weeks ago a man came to our church and he was really a rough looking fellow. He came to the church and was unshaven and messy and people who don't shave there faces are just without hope. It's a sign of hopelessness. (At this point I begin stroking my beard and since I am sitting beside her and everyone is basically looking right at us a couple guys across the table began smiling at me.) And then that gentleman came back this week and he had shaved! I just know he has more hope now and our church has really helped him along.
I was really having to work hard not to laugh at the end. One of the guys came to me afterward and told me he never knew I was such a hopeless guy. Sara and I got a big kick out of it. Maybe one of these days my hope will be restored and I can rid my self of this hopeless beard.
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