DADDY TELLS OUR CONGREGATION THAT WE ARE LEAVING


On the Sunday Daddy was going to tell his congregation

that we were leaving them

I woke up sick as a dog.


I was sweaty

and weak

and my head was pounding.


I couldn't breathe.

My bowels were loose.




Mom made me some hot tea

and Daddy came into the bedroom

and said

"Lynna-girl, we are a family

and we go forward together

through the good and the bad."


So I got up

got dressed

and went over to the church.




I sat in the front pew

and I looked at the piece of lace on the altar

and the blue and gold trim

and the sunshine streaming into the windows

of our church

which was a place of beauty unto the Lord.




Vera sashayed down the aisle

and plopped down next to me

digging around in the hymnal box for a paper fan

but I didn't have anything to say to her at the moment.


We did our usual singing

passing around the offering plate

separating into Sunday School groups

coming back together for Daddy's sermon.


Daddy took as his text

Proverbs 3:6

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him

and He shall direct thy paths."




He preached a little bit

then he asked everybody to stand up

and sing the Doxology.


We all stood up

shook the wrinkles out of our Sunday clothes

and sang.


Praise God from whom all blessings flow.




Daddy motioned for us

to sit back down.


He held onto the sides of the pulpit

and leaned forward.


"As I look out over my congregation,"

he said

"I realize how blessed we have all been."


Daddy was all jumbled up.

The services hadn't followed their usual pattern.

Why had Daddy had us sing the Doxology

when he wasn't done preaching?


Our congregation was confused.




So when he told them we were leaving them

there was complete silence for a minute.


You could hear the flies buzzing

against the windows.


Then people started to cry.


"Thank the Lord that Brother Rudy is dead!"

one of the church ladies called out

"because this would kill him!"


Daddy stood in the pulpit

and tears rained down his face

as he watched his congregation weep

hold onto each other

then get up and walk out.




Oh it was too terrible for words!

I wanted to run out back to the pine tree forest

and lay down.


Vera said not one word to me

as she got up

and followed her Mom out the door.






Be still, and know that I am God.




******************************************************************

Music playing: How Great Thou Art

This page contains copyrighted material

Story taken from my actual diaries

Go to Page 33

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