Without a doubt we’re living in troubled and worrisome times. Global unrest is spreading and growing like a darkening cloud. The global economy is on shaky ground and America’s government is threatening to shut down. Unemployment is at an all time high and people like me have been unable to find jobs for months or years. We’ve been hammered by Mother Nature, prices are rising on just about everything and gas is expected to reach $5/gallon by summer.
All of which leads me to the photo at the top of this post.
It was rainy Monday when I drove to the First Methodist Church of Perkasie to take a photo of this sign. I first spotted this pithy acronym/quote on the way to the Sellersville Theater for a concert with my husband. I saw it this past weekend, again on our way to the Sellersville Theater. Both times, I’m embarrassed to say, my camera was not with me. Hence my trip on this rain-soaked Monday thankful it was raining and not snowing.
Since it was raining I was hoping to find a convenient place to park in which to minimize my camera getting wet. As luck would have it as I approached the church there was a driveway not more than a few feet from the sign. I turned in and stopped. As my window squeegeed down I took three quick shots. Just as I was about to make a quick getaway, since I was blocking the driveway, a man emerged from a side door to the church and walked in my direction.
“I love the quote,” I exclaimed, my camera pointing towards the sign.
“With the times we live in now sometimes this is all we can do,” he said as he moved closer to my car.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I replied mentally breathing a sigh of relief for not saying, “Amen to that.”
“Are you the pastor,” I asked hoping I was using the correct term of respect.
“Yes, I am,” he replied and added, “I’m Blaik.” I then introduced myself.
“Did you come up with the quote,” I asked.
“No, one of our parishioners,” he said, adding, “they have a knack for this sort of thing.”
“Well, it’s great and please pass along my compliments to them.”
Had the skies not opened up and poured rain I would’ve told Pastor Blaik (his first name) about my blog and that I planned on writing a post about the church’s sign.
Pastor Blaik didn’t know it at the time but he brightened my day just by walking over to my car and speaking to me. He made me forget my worry over being unemployed and made me realize I’d been given a gift of a simple exchange of a few words. Words that stayed with me for the rest of the day and I’m sure this quote (although I suppose it’s really an acronym if you stop to think about it) and his words will stay with me much longer than a week.
Sometimes all it takes is a few words or just a smile from a complete stranger to put a smile on our own face, brighten our mood or our day.
Pray Until Something Happens – what else can we do other than Hope and Believe?
Thank you Pastor Blaik.
Namaste
Chris
2 comments:
Inspiration can be found everywhere, if you choose to look for it. Bravo to the person who took the time to add an inspirational comment on the church sign. Like it was to you, it might just be the one thing that makes someone's day.
And, you can do it anytime, anywhere,in a crowd or alone---and all without a phone or a computer!
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