Ever have one of those weekends where you know everything in store, and are prepared for all of it in advance?

This was NOT one of them in the Doulos realm.

Saturday was meticulously planned, with typical military precision. Dee got to the church with the kids, where they proceeded to assist as needed. However, the clock in the church (due to the height at which it's placed) is still on Daylight Savings Time, so they ended up staying an hour later than planned.
Not that I would have noticed, because I was at home working on the contents of Saturday's post (which was also unplanned - it has been bumping around the recesses of my partially-sanctified mind for some time now, and suddenly burst forth in cohesive thought!).
Late Saturday night, Dee did surprise me with a statement: "Today, I got a look at true worship". Intrigued, I responded in true deep, theological fashion, "Really? Where? How?" She said, "The sight of Mrs. X (one of our church's seasoned saints), on her hands and knees, scrubbing baseboards in the fellowship hall." She's a real gem (Mrs. X is too, but I mean Dee)!

Sunday, the big day, we got to the church a little before nine, as is our custom. I unlocked the building, and as I stepped into the hall to turn off the alarm, I noticed that the carpet had a shine to it. My first thought was, "That's odd - did someone put down Plexiglas?" Upon looking closer, I realized it was wet. Great, the carpet's been shampooed, and didn't dry overnight.
Well, the alarm is still beeping, and I'd best hurry to turn it off before the system notifies the police of an intruder. I'll just step gingerly as close to the wall as possible. When my foot hit the carpet and it sloshed, that's when I became aware of a sound, steadily making its presence known just beneath the insistent sound of the alarm system. That sounds like a shower running - and it seems to be coming from the ladies bathroom. Wait - there isn't a shower in the ladies room!
Turning off the alarm while standing in water (and noticing a fairly even layer of water covering the entire length of the hallway), I proceeded to step into the ladies room, where water
was standing deep enough to splash over the tops of my shoes with every step. Apparently, overnight, one of the commodes had developed a leak in the feeder pipe, and was spewing water at a rate roughly equal to a fire hydrant (okay, perhaps not, but it sure seemed that way as I was struggling to turn off the valve).
Splashing back into the hallway to survey the damage, I realized that water had covered the hallway, the nursery, the toddler classroom, the junior high classroom, the music office, and both bathrooms. It had also squirmed its way into the back quarter of the sanctuary. All of this on the church's biggest day, with all of our invited local heroes and distinguished guests due to begin arriving within an hour!
With a few phone calls, and as members began arriving with shop-vacs, the ill effects were minimized. With the arrival of one of the local fire departments, who brought in devices similar to shop-vacs, but looking like jet-packs, the damage was nullified to the point that the Fourth Annual Heroes Day started only about ten minutes late.
Our members are quite a group of "roll-up-your-sleeves, git-er-done" saints. The organizer, Gwen, kept things smooth, and it's my guess that this will be a day not soon forgotten!!
I will say that Wilmington's mayor is a class act. As a general rule, I don't consider politicians high on my "I think he's peachy-swell" list, but Mr. Broadhurst is just as down-to- earth and "real folks" as you'd ever hope to have as a next-door neighbor, let alone running a city.

Along the lines of government, I found this interesting. It just may be the only time I'll ever applaud our state's current governor for anything.

And speaking of disagreeing with disastrous governmental decisions, my heart is breaking over the Gaza situation. It makes me want to hop a flight to Israel and join in with the Gush Katif crowd, particularly if it progresses this far!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, beloved. Shalom.