A Wifeless Wednesday

Claire was called for jury duty yesterday but, as these things are wont to go, she ended up being passed over. That's what being a pro-life activist (with a few arrests for peaceful protest at abortion mills), a co-founder of a crisis pregnancy center and the wife of an evangelical pastor gets you in post-Christian, post-rational America -- you're not wanted to weigh evidence, make moral judgments, or pass sentence in a criminal case.

Oh well, she found it interesting seeing how the system...uh...works.

Because I figured she would be dismissed pretty quick, I hung around downtown in order to pick her up. I was wrong. It took them 6 hours to decide they didn't want her. When I've been called, the system has spit me out in a matter of minutes. I've never even had time to go into the Alice's Restaurant routine I've dreamed of. Bummer. (The Alice's Restaurant reference, by the way, is solely for the former flower children reading. The rest of you just go on.)

Anyhow, I sat at the Panera's drinking decaf for three hours. I went over the agenda for the Vital Signs Board meeting this weekend and then composed most of this month's LifeSharer letter. But having a presentation of "When Swing Was King" early in the afternoon, I finally had to book it out west and pack up.

I had never attempted a "When Swing Was King" program by myself. My bit is to do the sound, the narration, the screen, the preliminary music, the "blacking" of windows and the conversation with the residents. Claire visits too, of course, but she also handles all of the skill stuff: the Power Point program on her computer, the projector connections and alignment, and the various connections that keep all these things "talking" to one another and to the power source. She had taken me through the paces the night before so I could handle her part too. But it was still awfully daunting.

But I did have a few things going for me. Her prayers were very important; so too was the generous and warm-hearted welcome we always get at this particular facility. And then there was the delight of having 4 members of Faith Bible Church show up! Alan & Cindy & Paul & Harriet were on hand to offer moral support and much more. They visited with the residents. They covered the windows so the images could be better seen on the screen. And then Alan operated the Power Point. It was a wonderful testimony to the staff and residents for our church. And it was certainly a tremendous help to me. Thanks a million, guys.

There was only one small glitch -- just another of the trials of my wifeless Wednesday. Claire's sister called on the cell phone during the program. I got the phone out of my pocket pretty quick but there was another problem when I opened it. You see, earlier in the morning I had somehow turned on the speaker phone and I didn't have a clue as to how to get it back to normal. Without Claire, I'm absolutely helpless with this kind of thing. Anyhow, I made a dash for the door to keep Peg's voice from drowning out the song that was playing. And the song that was up at that very moment? I kid you not -- The Ink Spots singing "Ring, Telphone Ring!"

The unscripted comedy was one of the afternoon's highlights for the 18 people present.

Claire found out a little before two that she wasn't going to be picked for jury duty after all. So she waited patiently with Jeff Shaara's Gone for Soldiers book until I could get down and collect her around 3:20. We then had a most enjoyable early dinner with the Nelsons at a health food place we all enjoy -- Five Guys Burgers and Fries. A couple of hours conversation about the Faith, friendship, ministry, church matters, Vital Signs, flowers (Alan sells them), and Claire's experience with the system that day was a great way to get things back to normal.

And it sure was nice to have Claire back.