I had several items to bring inside: my opened Diet Coke, a couple of chocolate chip cookies, my sermon (inside a manila folder), an umbrella. My sport coat was on a hanger in the backseat.
I wrestled for a moment with how to balance all of these items. I put my sermon on the hood of my vehicle, with the soft drink and cookies and umbrella on top of it, weighing it down, as I retrieved my coat from the backseat.
Did I say the weather was starting to act up? Well, it was. As I was reaching in the backseat, a great gust of wind came and displaced the umbrella. The soft drink was knocked over. The cookies were blown to the ground. And, to my horror, my sermon was assaulted. The manilla folder was blown open and the pages of my sermon, one by one, were being blown across the parking lot.
All twelve pages. I couldn’t believe it. I was frozen in my tracks. But not for long. I had to act, and act quickly before the wind carried the pages of my sermon to who knows where. So, as the wind blew and the rain came down, I quickly gathered every page. I felt foolish. Pretty sure I looked foolish. But I retrieved every damp and wind-blown page.
I’m not sure how to interpret this. Was God telling me to cast away my sermon? I hope not. Perhaps a reminder of the words of Jesus? “The wind blows wherever it pleases . . . so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
I don’t know. But I sure will be more careful next time. I was able to retrieve my sermon, but the cookies were gone for good.