I called God "stinky."
The first quarter of the eyeroll might be devoted to the idea that numbers — number of people attending a service, number of people viewing a service online, number of people participating in mission work, number of people being served by mission work — that these numbers bear any relation to who has or has not been transformed by the redeeming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
When asked why he would not pick up his pen, Thomas reputedly replied, “All that I have written seems like straw to me.” He died six months later. His magnum opus remains unfinished.
I got home to Western North Carolina on September 19, 2024. On September 27, Hurricane Helene deposited between 25 and 30 inches of rain on an already sodden region.
I felt bad for Brother Paul. On the recommendation of a mutual friend, he agreed to spend some time with me, but he did not bargain for the this. I was kind of a wreck and there was no way we could talk about anything else until I tried to explain to him why.