I wasn’t sure where to place this, so here we go…
Here in CA ammo is in very short supply. As I work in my store’s Firearm Department, our Preacher told me he was hurting for ammo and asked if we might be getting a shipment anytime soon.
Sadly I told him ammo deliveries were sparse at best, and if we got any at all it was practice rounds.
At this point, let me say that our Preacher, Deacons and more than a few in our congregation have CCWs, and are encouraged to carry at services… That said…
Later when the offering plate (more like a deep soup bowl) was passed, I quietly under a dollar, slipped in a 20 round box of Federal 9mm 135 grain Hydra-Shok JHP I grabbed from mt truck’s BOB.
As I was in my usual isle seat in one of the back rows, when the Deacon took the plate to the next row, I couldn’t see the faces, but the head jerks and occasional laughs said it all.
At the end of the offering the Deacons usually take the plates back to the office. That day the Deacon on my side first stopped to show the Preacher the take. The Preachers eyes went directly to me, and I did the best imitation of the look-away my Lab gives me when I’ve walked in on his fill in the blank party.
I don’t know if it was already planned, but the closing sermon was how sometimes God answers prayers in strange ways. Needless to say at the post service get together the discussion was who put the ammo in the plate, and if ammo was an appropriate offering. Some saw it as grandstanding where others clearly wished they’d thought of it first.
So what do you think? Was it appropriate to both praise God and pass the ammo at the same time?
Just one last thing… The Church Secretary said that aside from the ammo, that offering was the biggest they had in months. So did I inspire more than Shok (pun intended)? Only the Lord knows.