My day today did not start out well.  For the last couple days I have felt out of sorts; like I wasn’t doing anybody any good.  Do you know that feeling?  Usually I am fairly perky in the mornings (which drives my wife crazy), but today I was not.  I think my wife detected that.  But to make matters worse my wife also was not having a good day.  Well, you can about imagine where this is going.  I said something, my wife responded, then I said something insensitive.  I didn’t mean to.  It just happened.  The next thing I knew she was leaving the house in a huff.  I was not her favorite person at that moment.  I couldn’t blame her.

To make matters worse still I had a meeting today with some collegues who are also first call pastors.    The meeting was at Shalom Hill Farm; a retreat center that focuses on rural ministry.  I did not feel like going into this with them.  I felt ashamed.  So I had to try to put on my happy face which can be hard to do sometimes.  I needed to hide my pain.  On the outside I think I looked fine, but on the inside I was still hurting for being an insensitive jerk to my wife.  Then it happened.  As I was walking to the building we were meeting in at Shalom Hill Farm, a little lamb came running up to me and licked my cell phone.  What an odd thing to do.  The lamb was no higher than my knee cap.  I tried to move away, but it wanted to be near me.  I wanted to tell the little guy to stay away; that I am a bad person, but I don’t think the lamb would have cared anyway.  The lamb just seemed to want to lick my cell phone.

Then I started thinking:  Maybe I am not such a bad person, but just a person who made a mistake.  Maybe I am still lovable.  Maybe, just maybe, my wife will forgive me if I ask for forgiveness.  We all make mistakes (yes, even pastors can be jerks sometimes).  We say things that hurt people.  But in the end, God still does something out of the ordinary.  God forgives us.  What a strange thing to do.  God may not lick your cell phone, but for a brief moment today, God did just that for me.  God showed me that he likes to do strange things to get our attention; to remind us that we are lovable.  I am thankful for that little lamb.  It didn’t do wonders for my cell phone but it did do wonders for my heart.  Thanks God.  Amen!