and some rags

and he set to scrubbing all the pews

which was silly

because they were made of that same kind of red wood

that the pulpit was made of

and there wasn't a speck of dirt or dust on them.

But like I said, Daddy could be mighty strange at times.

The door opened

with a squeak

and in came three ladies and two men and a little boy

and they caught Daddy in the act

of cleaning the pews

and one of the ladies said to Daddy

in a hurt voice

"We cleaned this church from stem to stern just last week!

I guess we didn't do a good enough job to suit you."

Daddy was in deep trouble

backed into a corner

his face beet red

all eyes upon him

waiting for his answer.

And Daddy blurted out the truth

He said, "This church is so beautiful

and I can't preach in it 'til Sunday

and my hands were itchy to get busy

so I had to set about doing something".

Well, all those people rushed up to Daddy

laughing

and they hugged him

and told him that Brother Rudy had been so pleased with us

that they just couldn't wait for Sunday

to come and meet us.

They all introduced themselves

Brother Luke Brother Charles Sister Fran Sister Mary

Sister Alfreda, and Sister Alfreda's son, Joey.

Then the ladies took over Daddy's job

of pew cleaning

while the men talked to Daddy about things like window caulking

checking the roof

fixing the squeaky doors.

Mom came over

and all the ladies rushed up to her

and they started jabbering

and they went over to the parsonage

where they showed Mom how to work the oven

and helped her unpack

and they hung the picture of Jesus

over our new living-room couch

and Mom made coffee

and they sat around the dining-room table

laughing

about Daddy cleaning the pews.

That night, at devotions

Daddy thanked the Lord for putting the right words in his mouth

when he was in trouble with his new congregation

and Mom thanked the Lord for a wonderful day

of sitting around and talking to the church ladies

which made her feel so relaxed

for the first time in two years

and Jimmy mentioned that he sure hoped he wouldn't have to use

the outhouse tonight

although

he told the Lord

he didn't mind using it in the daytime

and I thanked the Lord that all the Murphy's Oil Soap was used up

so we wouldn't be embarrassed again.

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