The Letter (Blog 3 of 30)

Every preacher I have ever know has received "the letter" from someone (Some of them have received many letters).

It is an occupational hazard that goes along with stating an opinion or belief in a public forum.... someone at some point is going to disagree with you.

The trick is that most of the time they do not have the guts to disagree with you in person and nor will they get up in front of everyone and state their case (like the preacher has to do), so they leave you a nasty note..... sometimes they even have the guts to sign it - though "anonymous" is often the author.


With the advent of email, blogs, texting and other social media platforms it is even easier to shoot your mouth off and not bear any responsibility for what you have said or who you run over in the process.


For the record, I have not had many letters like the ones I am describing. Our church has been very kind to me and my family and we have learned to deal with disagreements in a healthy way.


However, this morning, I walked into my office and there on my desk sat this great, big, long note with handwriting that was so disjointed and weird looking that it was obviously written by a crazy person who was in a big hurry to tell me how stupid I am.


At first, I was shocked!  As I said, our group is so good to me and my family that I could not believe someone had written me a "letter".


Then I was angry!  HOW DARE SOMEONE DO THIS TO ME WHEN I AM WORKING MY GUTS OUT HERE????  COME AND TALK TO ME LIKE A MAN IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DISCUSS AND STOP HIDING BEHIND A STUPID PIECE OF PAPER!!!


Then I was confused......   How did anyone get into my office????   All the doors were locked and no one else has a key.


Then I realized......  I left that letter on my desk!!!!!! 


It was my pile of notes for my sermon this week.... and it was not nasty at all.... in fact it was quite uplifting! 


The thing is that I never leave junk in the middle of my desk, so when I saw that pile of papers I automatically assumed the worst. 


This experience has taught me two things...... 
     a.  I may be a little more edgy and defensive than I need to be
     b.  I may need a little more sleep or drink less coffee or something.


So all's well that ends well, right?


But I did make sure to clean up my desk and put everything away so that it does not happen again tomorrow!  :)