The Preacher Was Late!

Something happened to me this weekend that has never happened before, and it will probably not happen to me again in my lifetime. I was in Searcy, AR over the weekend preaching at the Four Mile Hill Church of Christ and catching up with some folks from my time in school at Harding University. Saturday morning I went fishing, but the abundant rains had left all the creeks swollen and raging. While that was literally a washout, I was able to attend a cookout and hayride for the young families' group from the congregation that evening. Many of the people there were friends from ten years ago during my time at Harding. It was great catching up with everybody. On Sunday morning, everything went according to plan. Jeremy Sciba taught a great Bible class on marriage, I preached for the congregation and June Lee cooked a wonderful lunch while my great friend, Ocena shared that time with us.

Sunday afternoon was a different story. Jeremy Sciba had invited me fishing, but I knew if we went we would have to wind everything up by about 4:00 p.m. because the church services started at 6:00 p.m., and I was preaching again. After venturing down to the Little Red River, we launched his boat into the river and tried to locate some of the run-outs coming in from the swollen creeks. After having no luck locating the run-outs and the fish, it was becoming apparent we were having some outboard motor issues.

Something was out of line with Jeremy's prop, as it was vibrating pretty bad. As we were wrapping up our fishing to head back to the boat ramp (it was 4:00), we noticed the vibration got much worse. He had already tried to take the propellor off attempting to straighten it, but it was to no avail. After replacing the prop, Sciba fired up the motor again. As we were trying our best to make it back to the ramp, Jeremy pulls out his cell phone. Let's just say I knew that was a very bad sign. He makes a call to Brian McDonald who was fishing in the area, and a plan was developed for them to rescue us from our peril on the river.

I kept looking down at the time on my phone, and I was realizing that this visiting preacher might be in trouble. At about 5:00 we learned that Brian and his friend were on the river; about ten minutes later, there was no sign of them. Sciba calls Brian to find out what's going on, and Brian told him that they were now having engine trouble. I was really starting to get a little squirmy. They got their problem resolved and picked us up about 5:20. Sciba had to tie his boat off on the bank, and his truck and trailer were back at the other boat ramp down river. That would have to be remedied later. Needless to say, we were in a hurry, as these boys wanted to make sure the preacher got where he needed to be!

I had already called June Lee to inform her about our trouble, but I had assured her I would be there. At this point in time when we loaded up in the truck, I was beginning to wonder if I would follow through on my staement of assurance. While riding in the back of the truck, I called Casey McDonald (Brian's brother) who is one of the preachers at Four Mile Hill; he was going to be leading singing that night. I told him of my dilemma, and I could hear him kind of snickering. I told him if he needed to sing up 'til about twenty after, then do it! We had to go from Liberty Valley all the way over to the Wal-Mart in Searcy, but we arrived at my car at 5:47. I still had to go back to Herb's and June's to change clothes and grab my Bible and notes. Can you picture how big of a hurry I'm in now?

To make a long story short, I arrived at the Four Mile Hill building at about 6:13 or so. They were meeting in the fellowship hall due to auditorium rennovations, so I came in behind everyone and stood by the bathrooms. Casey was in the middle of leading singing when I walked in. As he looked up in the middle of the song to see me standing there, he grinned from ear to ear. A few of the people had turned around to see me, but only a few. After the prayer, Casey announced the invitation number and had everyone open to the next song to be sung before Jeremy brings the lesson. Herb Lee kind of looked around to both sides, but he didn't see me. He looked at June with an expression that told me he was about to have to preach. As he grabbed his Bible, I knew that I would have to stop him from getting up to talk. I decided to start walking toward the front before Casey finished the last few words of the chorus in the song. As I walked past Herb, I kind of tapped him on the shoulder, and you could tell by the look on his face that he was very relieved.

I decided to start off my sermon with a little humor about what I had been through that afternoon. Given the circumstances, I knew there would be some people wondering. I asked them what do you get when you have a visiting preacher, a deacon in the local congregation, an afternoon on the Little Red and a bad prop on an outboard motor? The answer was stranded on the Little Red River! They all got a kick out of that as I told them I made it by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin.

It never ceases to amaze me at things I experience which provide me with unforgettable memories. This definitely fits in that category. I'll always remember what happened when the preacher was late!