Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Church Custodian

Prompt from Graham: Three phases for this prompt, take them how you will: "cave man/porn star/riding on a unicorn/undercover cop wearing a uniform" "I'm not one for hyperbole" "That's one hungry kid."

This is a silly one.

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Joel 2:28

He recalled the vision:

the scene was a cacophony of color
a painting accident involving
a caveman riding on a unicorn
and a porn star who was actually
an undercover cop wearing a uniform
and the color yellow.

His own interpretation was
that it meant he should open a pen store.

His logic made a surprising amount of sense.

I, his pastor, asked him what he thought
the significance of the yellow was.
He paused for a second and said
he always imagined cavemen with jaundice.

I’m not one for hyperbole
but I was starting to look forward
to these counseling sessions
with the church’s custodian
like they were Seahawk games.

He had a nice voice
made the visions seem less crazy
like he was narrating a film.
Outside his visions
he was a pretty normal guy,
sometimes we’d just talk about our kids.

He told me a story about his oldest,
who’s the thinnest 5th grader I’ve ever seen,
coming home from school
eating a box of a frosted flakes
and four hot-pockets.

Our session ended that day
without the customary prayer.
All I could manage was
“wow, that’s one hungry kid.”

Today, I told him he should think about
trying to paint his vision, see what insights he gains
and read Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones.
I wasn’t sure, but I felt like the two were connected.

2 comments:

Christine Hammill Perkins said...

can you promise me that our careers as pastors will involve this exact moment?

Steve said...

I'm just glad to know that if all else fails, I might just make it as a church custodian.