Doghouse

Jesus Outed in Megachurch, Film at 11, Part 11

We got out of the car and started for the door. I felt strange the farther he walked ahead of me. It wasn't until later that I would see things very differently. But I am laboring here to be as true to the moments as possible.

The doors were locked and it looked like everyone was gone. My guess was it was about 3 p.m.

We walked around the side. Then I asked "Hey, want me to pray again?"

"Naw, it won't be necessary," he said.

"What about the admonition to pray without ceasing? Huh? Huh?" I chided.

"You pray like that a lot more than you realize," he said. "Remember last week when you had insomnia?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well how did you deal with it?"

I blushed.

"No not that," he said. "Finally...before you went to sleep?"

"yeah, okay...it was a kind of conversation," I said.

"albeit one-sided," he said as he shielded his eyes and pressed his face up to the mirrored glass door.

"Soooo..." he said peering in, "I would estimate you pray about 6 hours a day."

"I certainly do not!" I said. "Maybe 5 minutes tops."

"Nope," he said. "Just think about it next week."

Just then another side door popped open and Pastor White stepped out into the sunlight. He fumbled with his brief case for a moment then saw us and grinned a toothy smile.

"Hey there!" he yelled. "How y'all doing?"

Then he dropped the briefcase when I pulled back and he saw him behind me.

He looked flushed, then he looked off as if gathering up a controlled storm.

Finally he walked over much more calmly and put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Thank you for bringing him back. We were worried."

"Seems capable of taking care of himself," I said, and he removed the hand.

Then the pastor spoke directly to him.

"You know you cannot keep doing this during services," he said sadly yet sternly. "We have a place for you here. You know that. There will always be a place for you here at Estuary. Come, both of you, I have something to show you that we have been working on."

He pulled out his keys which consisted of enough metal that if melted down could craft a small statue.

Once inside he took us to the new wing under construction. It was maybe three-quarters finished and probably the whole of it was another 30,000 square feet of space.

"You'll be happy to know that we are opening up a whole new ministry here in this wing," he said with no small amount of pride.

"I ministry to the poor, the homeless, the despairing and spiritually hungry right?" the Son of Man asked.

"WELLL...haha..there you go again..ya-ha!" he said wagging his head back and forth. "Yeah son...Heh! No, no...we got bigger fish to fry," he said. "We 're moving the Christos Institute in here which deals directly with lobbying congress on all significant moral issues to make sure they are carried out by all people everywhere to the letter."

"Is that all they do?" he asked.

"Nosir," he said gleefully. "They also have a side project called The Gleanings, which with the use of advanced computer technology is able to sift through significant biblical passages and isolate those with superior practical importance for enhanced living."

"Is that the logo?" I asked pointing to a large placard with a whale on it which had "GLEANINGS" written underneath its hulking mass.

"Yes," he said proudly. "It's a symbol. The whale is able to take in huge expanses of water, yet strain the tiny plankton as it sees fit."

With that the robed one turned to me and said, "Pop-quiz question two?"

"Yeah, I get it," I said. "But he forgot about the blow-hole."

We both laughed hard.

"I saw that coming, but limited my knowledge just before the moment," he said stooping over laughing, "Cuz I wanted to get it fresh."

I was laughing hard too, like some great release of pressure.

"Well you fellas are having a good time," the pastor said looking sullen. "Let me show you what I have to show you and we can finish up."

I wiped a tear from my eye and cleared my throat and chuckled one more time.

As we followed Pastor White down the hall I put my hand over his robed shoulder. Suddenly I was worried that I would never see him again.

"Don't worry," came the voice in my head. And he looked up and winked at me quickly.

I felt better.

We came to the far end of the hall and saw, in the corner, two small rooms. The one on the left was obviously a broom closet.

"NO!" I said.

"Mac, this is out of your control," he said. "Let Go." he said aloud to me.

"and let God?" I prayed to him.

"Very funny," he replied in my head.

"You don't need to worry sir," the pastor said to me, which I did not like because the way he said "sir" was obviously dismissive. I was definitely now the "enemy".

"I have a confession" he said. "It was wrong to put you in the closet," he said to him.

"So we have built this new room just for you," he said. "In fact, you have your own broom closet next two it and our janitors will take care of everything you need. They are on 24/7."

"What about the ropes and gags!?" I asked in a loud voice.

"Hey son! Don't go poking where you are not wanted," he bristled.

"Well what kinda joint you running here where you hog-tie the very one you are supposed to adore and follow?" I asked.

"You don't understand," he said sadly. "We got a Board that is very demanding, and well, frankly this one here (pointing to the Son of Man) has just lost touch. He's always over-turning the cart and we can never get anything done."

There was silence as each of us considered what was coming next.

"No gags and no ropes," the pastor finally said. "Come let me show you."

We walked into the small corner room. I noticed immediately the lack of an ambient noise, then I saw the thick acoustic panels already inset on all sides and the ceiling. The floor was raised and strange.

"What's with the floor?" I asked.

"It's actually cut away from the entire building" he said proudly. "We learned that trick when we built our first recording studio. This room actually, in a sense floats. It eliminates all noise and vibration entirely. This whole room is utterly soundproof so he can be at peace."

"We also are installing an advanced security system to protect him from the outside world," he continued. "No one can get in without our knowing."

With that the Son of Man took off his sandals and went and sat against the far wall.

"Well gents," the pastor said, "we have two services to run tonight, so I need to prepare." Then he paused, lifted one eyebrow up as he looked at him and said "You will agree to stay here for now until we finish, right?"

"Thy will be done," he replied.

"And you sir," he said. "I expect you out of here in 5 minutes, understood?"

"Yes," I said tersely, "Sir."

Then he turned and left. I heard him start to whistle about ten paces down the hall. I think it was a rendition of Jesus Loves Me This I Know...
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Epilogos...

posted by Obi-Mac BakDon @ 11:44 AM