1 out of 168!

A couple of months ago, Oil Can and I met a guy at the Catfish House in an attempt to give the dude a little encouragement and a little hope. His story is not unique and the details are not noteworthy. Truth be told, both Oil Can and I have had times in our lives when we were on the receiving end of the same kind of meeting. The time was well-spent and I think we accomplished some good things.

As the guy drove off, Oil Can and I were left in the parking lot chatting, and I'm not sure I was prepared for the direction the conversation drifted. I expressed some guilt and remorse to Oil Can because I had not been "going" to church on a regular basis. Then, in kind of a condescending and arrogant tone, Oil Can challenged me. He said, "In case you didn't know it, Dumba**, we just "did" church over a piece of fish. Whenever we stop "going" to church and start "doing" church, we'll all be a lot better off."

Fast forward to nearly a month ago when we moved Jentry into the dorm at Lipscomb University. I must confess to being a little confused by the dorms being open for new students at 9:00 AM on a SUNDAY morning! Didn't the folks at this Christian University know that Sunday morning is THE time when we are supposed to GO to church? My confusion turned into complete awe when we pulled into that parking lot and opened the hatch on the back of the car. About EIGHT people from a local congregation descended on us and simply said, "What room number?" I stood there, empty-handed, chin on my chest, while everything we packed was taken from our car and delivered, in one trip, into that dorm and up three flights of stairs!

We didn't even have a room key! There were forms to be filled out and deposits to be paid! Fifteen minutes later, we walked, empty-handed, up three flights of stairs and saw all of Jentry's belongings sitting outside her door. They had placed a flyer on top of her stuff that said, "Free Barbecue--Y'all Come!"

Those folks were from one congregation of several that had descended on that little campus that morning to try and be of service. They had gotten out of their beds on that Sunday morning with the intention of DOING church and not GOING to church. They were smiling, sweating, and laughing. They understood the stress of what was going on with freshman college kids and their anxiety-filled parents. Something in their demeanor just shouted that everything was going to be okay.

Now fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago. I was chatting with a preacher for whom I was doing some work in his house. He casually mentioned that one of the leaders in his church had requested that he do a series on worship.

I'm not sure if he wanted my opinion or not. Ninety-nine percent sure he did NOT. Ha! He got it anyway. I simply said, "I'm out! There are 168 hours in a week. I really need to concentrate on and hear about living life during those other 167 hours! To gather for that ONE hour and listen to a sermon about that ONE hour is nothing short of ridiculous!"

But, 98% of church folks feel the need to "GO" to church. Evidently, they are much more mature than I am and have life, on this planet, figured out. They dress in their "Sunday best", GO to church, then drive like lunatics to the cafeteria. They are more than satisfied to go 1 out of 168!

Then, there are a few, who will spend an entire day DOING church. One of the men who unloaded our car at 9:30 AM was still dragging stuff up those stairs at 6:00 PM. He was drenched in sweat! He looked exhausted! He was still smiling! His whole demeanor shouted to every anxious Dad in that dorm that "Dad, she's gonna be okay!"

I have no idea what he did the rest of the week. But from what I saw, he was at least NINE times better off than most. He was at least, 9 out of 168!