by Jeff Christian, Guest Writer
August 8, 2010

Jesus told a story about a man… on a journey… on a road. Maybe it was a ridiculously straight road. On that road, the man was beaten and left for dead. Another man driving along the road was on his way to church. He noticed the oil wells and the single car that passed him. His mind was focused on where they might go out to eat after the closing prayer. For a split second he thought he saw a man lying on the side of the road. But he kept going. After all, it was 9:40 on Sunday morning.

He arrived at the church building fifteen minutes early to greet his fellow churchgoers and have some coffee. They went into the auditorium (not the “sanctuary”) and sang along with the song leader (not the “worship minister”) and partook of the Lord’s Supper (not “communion”) and listened to the preacher (we don’t call him “pastor”) and made sure the women kept silent and the kids sat still and nobody clapped and everything was done decent and in order.

When the service (ironic word) was over, they drove back home down the straight and narrow path. As he drove, he thought about how good the preacher was, and how comfortable his leather Bible felt in his hand. His mind drifted back over the morning, and how everything went perfectly. He filled out his membership card. At one point during the offering, he even took the ribbon hanging out of one of the songbooks in the empty pew in front of him, and put back in its proper place. There, that’s better.

His driving daydream was suddenly interrupted by his daughter’s voice. From the backseat she yelled, “Dad! There’s a guy lying in the dirt!” To which he replied as the pathway plodded forward, “Be quiet, sweetheart, Daddy’s concentrating on the road.”

If you would like to subscribe to gracEmail®, click on this link.