Blood Stains, Spilled Coffee, Eggs in the Floorboard and Hope.

Yesterday was one of those days.  It started at prayer breakfast.  I joined a group of gentlemen from Tuckston at their weekly prayer breakfast at our neighborhood Chick-Fil-A.  It is one of the highlights of my week.

My right arm was itching a little just above my wrist and so I reached under the cuff of my shirt to give it a little scratch.  Soon I noticed blood on my shirt.  Apparently I'd scratched a bit too hard.  So I returned home changed into a different shirt and tie and went into the church office.

I had an appointment after lunch and after the appointment I decided on a cup of coffee to give me a pick-me-up before I visited a couple of parishioners in a nearby care facility.  One should never try to drink a cup of coffee and do computer work at the same time. 

While typing on my computer I managed to bump the coffee cup and send coffee all over my shirt, over one leg of my pants and all over my tie.  Now I'm wet, my clothes are stained and I smell like coffee.  Of course coffee doesn't  smell bad in and of itself but by the same token I've never gone to a cologne counter and asked for "Essence of Folgers."

I really didn't feel I should make pastoral visits with a coffee stained shirt and me smelling like the coffee pot of  a Waffle House so I stayed at the office and did some more writing.  My wife, Toni, had asked me to do a drive by pick up for a grocery order she had made on my way home.  Of course I did so.  The order included a carton of eggs.  The store staff member who brought the order to my vehicle asked if wanted the eggs in the front seat and I said that would probably be a good idea.  The rest of the order was loaded in the back of the SUV I drive and I headed home.

A little over a mile from my house a deer darted in front of my vehicle requiring me to slam on the brakes.  Of course the eggs flew off the seat and into the floorboard.  I thought to myself, "This is the perfect ending to a perfect day."  (I am often sarcastic when thinking to myself.)  

I arrived home and unloaded the groceries.  I started with the eggs.  The carton was torn but all 18 eggs in the carton were intact.  I guess eggs are tougher than I'd thought.  So it was that I declared victory.  

So what is to be gleaned from this day.  The answer is sometimes you get blood on your shirt, spill coffee on yourself, but the eggs don't break.  In other words, there are times in life when everything seems to be against us but in the end we catch a break.

Of course there are times that worse things happened to us than stained clothes, spilled coffee and  eggs in the floor board.  Sometimes it does seem that we are living with a dark cloud that does noting but dump chaos and negativity in our lives.  Yet, amongst the negativity we notice the eggs didn't break.  

As a theologian I would call that a "tangible sign of hope."  The truth is some days aren't good but then we find that one thing that went well and we have hope.  As Paul writes in the book of Romans, "Hope does not disappoint us."

So far today I've worn the same shirt all day and drank two cups of coffee without spilling them. However,  I'm still going to play it safe and leave the eggs in the refrigerator for another day or two.


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