I was walking our dog Noah around the neighborhood the other day when I turned the corner to find a neighbor heading my way with her little Jack Russell terrier that always barks and snaps at Noah. I groaned silently because I knew she would stop me and carry on about whatever was on her mind today.
I don’t mind talking to neighbors, but this one is particularly annoying because she bad-mouths people and their children while interjecting comments about God or Jesus, who she says guides her life. Once, I asked her if she thought Jesus channeled God when he was alive and that stumped her, at first. Finally, she replied. “Well, I’m not sure what you mean by channeling, but Jesus is God. Everyone knows that.”
So, here she was again. I couldn’t help smiling because a moment before I’d been studying the sky as a skywriting pilot finished one word and started on a second word. That first word was Jesus. As expected, Gloria stopped and told me she was glad to see me, because she had to tell somebody about ‘our crazy court system.’ She had just been dismissed from jury duty after two days and she was relieved, but also upset. “God did not want me serving on that jury, and I’m glad. I couldn’t believe those other people on the jury. So many of them were willing to act neutral and there was a child involved.”
By this time, she had me hooked. So I asked what it was about. “It was a terrible murder case. This guy shot his wife and six-year-old daughter, then tried to run away. Just terrible. The judge asked me if I could be fair and I told him the truth. Not for something like that. He killed a child. I told him I had five kids and what that man did was unforgivable. They sent me home after I said that. Thank God.”
I nodded. “But don’t you think he deserved a fair trial?”
“No. What if he got off? They should put him in jail and throw away the key.”
Whew. While she had been talking, I watched the skywriter finish the second word. I interrupted as she carried on, and pointed skyward. “Can you read it?” She stared up and read the two-word sentence. If she saw any connection between her story and what was written in the sky, she didn’t show it. The skywriting read: JESUS FORGIVES.
Trish loved this story when I told it to her, because she knows this woman all too well. Then she kept asking me when I was going to write it for the blog. I’d hesitated for a number of days, not knowing quite why. But now, as I read over what I wrote, it’s all too obvious. I’m acting just like Gloria: gossiping and talking about Jesus!
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