The Day In Pictures

In a previous blog entry, I promised to post some pictures of the noteburning at Southside Baptist. I also promised to explain the signs on the gate. The reason for them is in part due to Hurricane Rita and in part due to my friend Bill.

When Rita hit southwest Louisiana, my family and I evacuated to Carthage with our RV in tow. We stayed at some friends' house and didn't need the RV. Because I feared high winds, I parked the RV (with permission) at Southside under their "pavilion." By midweek, after the storm passed, I was asked to move it due to the fact that the children needed to use the area it occupied for their AWANA activities. Bill and I were dutifully dispatched to move it to another location.

Unfortunately, as we left the house, I backed into a car standing in the street at the end of the driveway. Bill admitted distracting me with his talk, so I let him take the blame. :) The damage was minor to the other car -a dented fender- and almost unnoticeable on my SUV. After a visit from a city policeman and exchanging insurance information, we were again on our way. I was a bit shaken by it all.

We arrived at the church, hitched up to the RV and were again on our way. We arrived at another friend's place and I began to set up the trailer. I went inside and noticed sunlight streaming in from the roof. It was a curious thing to me as I tried to figure out why this was so. Just then, my wife and Kathy, another friend, arrived. My wife was (a bit) agitated.

She informed me that our rooftop air conditioner was lying on Southside's parking lot. That explained the hole in the roof. She also informed me that we had tried to go under a bar at the entrance to the parking lot designed to keep large trucks out. As we went under the bar, we neatly skimmed off the air conditioner on top, ripped the rubber roof, and messed some other things up.

We had no idea. As we went under that bar, neither Bill or I heard or saw anything. We were blissfully ignorant until my wife drove up. Again, Bill took blame for distracting me with his observations and insights. I was already upset because of the previous incident of backing into another car.

Two accidents in a very short time! When members of Southside Church learned of my plight, their response was to laugh and poke fun at my misfortune. I deserved it, though. Damage to the bar was slight, but I did notice Sunday that it was bent. I have had a history during my tenure at the church of being a bit absent minded and accident prone.

The ironic thing of it all is that our home and property recieved minimal damage from Hurricane Rita. Aside from some downed trees and a damaged fence, we got off very lightly. The RV we had taken with us to protect was the only thing that was badly damaged. The one thing I tried to save was the one thing harmed.

Hence the signs on the gate when I arrived Sunday. The congregation still enjoys a laugh at my expense and I have the deserved reputation of being a bit hapless.

As the old saying goes, if they're talking about me, they're leaving someone else alone.