Friday, April 6, 2007

Sam and Toni

I attended the Maundy Thursday service at our church today. Seth and I arrived early since he was playing the piano, so I took my seat in the sanctuary, awaiting the service. The seats were empty. Not many people had arrived yet. So I chose a seat off to the side by myself. Head down, reading the program, I was hoping that no one would come to sit beside me. I was enjoying sitting alone, and I hoped it would stay that way. I didn't feel that I needed any company. I wasn't in the mood for small talk. I'm no good at it anyway.

Ten minutes before starting time, I heard commotion behind me. Well hey Amber! Great, I'm gonna have to talk. I turned around and saw Sam and Toni. I don't know Sam and Toni very well. But I remember that they joined the church not too long after we did. Hard to miss. Sam always looks like he's just stepped off of a fishing canoe. Toni looks like the quintessential Texan woman meets Pocahontas. Her hair is actually black with frosted silver highlights. But it's huge, so that counts for Texan. Huge hair, dark skin, lots of make up, swishy skirts, likes to talk. We chatted. It was fine.

Somehow we started talking about Toni's friend who is a Hindu. Toni has invited her to church and prays for her friend. Her prayers are big prayers that take alot of faith to pray, and they've been answered. She wants her friend to know that if she prays to her God, that He'll hear and answer. So now her Hindu friend says she'll come to church.

Then Toni told me about how she came to know Christ. She was already married to Sam. Sam said that after Toni became a Christian she left him for Jesus. Sam said he got jealous of Jesus. But it was OK because it brought him to the Lord, too. And then Toni said that before she was a Christian she was mean and hateful, and a couch potato. But afterwards, she was still a couch potato, just a couch potato with a Bible. And she would sit on the couch and read the Bible and weep. "Because God...he weeps, ya know." Is what she said to me.

And I was worried about small talk.

The service began. Dramatic readings. Scripture. String quartet. Seth at the piano. It was meaningful. It was moving.

Then we prayed.

And for no reason, Toni reached from behind me during the prayer and put her hand on my arm. It startled me a bit at first, and then...tears.

I'm not sure why. I thought I wanted to be alone. Maybe I didn't. But it felt like Jesus was touching my arm, and I moved my hand over hers and wondered if this is how Carol feels when I hug her goodbye.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so beautiful. God bless.

FancyPants said...

Thanks for the encouragement, Cach. =-)

Susanne said...

I have tears now too. It sounds like Toni is a woman after God's own heart. Don't you love people who know what you need before you do? And I'm sure that's just how Carol feels when you hug her. What a beautifully written and touching post by a beautiful (inside and out!) woman. Happy Easter! He is risen!!!

FancyPants said...

She is. And I just wanted to take time to note...Toni is a beautiful woman. After re-reading the post, I realized it might sound as if I thought she was just funny to look at. On the contrary, she's like this exotic bird. Uniquely beautiful.

FancyPants said...

I LOVE them!! She is so funny and he is a hoot.

That is a beatufully written post. You wanna go out sometime?

SandinaJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SandinaJ said...

Hey Am, either you like yourself a little too much, or Seth is commenting under your name....or you're schizophrenia is out of control again.

Chaotic Hammer said...

This is so awesome. I love it.

kddub said...

It's so wonderful when God uses others to invade your personal space. A simple touch on the arm can feel like Jesus is reaching out and showing his love to you. I love it. How cool of God to show you how it feels, and encourage you to continue loving on Carol.

FancyPants said...

What are you talking about.

I'm not schizophrenic.

FancyPants said...

Yes you are.

FancyPants said...

No I'm not.

FancyPants said...

Yes you are.

Ok, ok, cheesy.

Yeah, Seth is a goob and forgot to switch the sign in name. But what a lovable goob he is.

Sorry about the delayed response. Out of town and then the dumb internet was down.