One morning I decided to attend an early, 7:30 am to be exact, church service. It had been months since I'd been there. My vision for that Sunday service was to sit close to the front where I could feel God's anointing through the sermon and music. In my mind being as close to the alter as possible was my way of surrendering, thanking, and praising God. The only other option that came to mind was to just lye face down in front of the alter throughout the entire service. So I opted to avoid getting crazy stares from onlookers. Because of life's difficult circumstances, that day I desperately longed for authentic corporate worship and just needed to be close to Jesus. I knew God's Word was the only way to satisfy my state of being. Did I say desperate?
This was going to be a wonderful worship service, I thought. Arriving at church late wasn't going to hinder me. Praise and worship was over and the message had just begun. The usher directed me to sit on a pew toward the back of the church. While that was fine, I just wanted to be closer. So after a few moments I stood up to quickly move closer to the front. Immediately, out of no where, an usher who was at least 3 heads taller than I am blocks me like a defensive lineman. Bewildered, yet still focused on my forward moving mission to the front, I did what any running back would do - dodged him. What happened next is unbelievable.
Flag on the play! The tall male usher forcefully grabbed my arm by the elbow. Okay, let's pause right here. What would you have done? Really? At that very moment, I jerked my arm away from him and without saying one word, gave him a look that could have slain Goliath. In my mind, the usher was an obstacle. Like Mary, (Luke 10:38-42) I wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus that morning, and no Martha minded usher was going to stop me. I made my way to my new seat but was so frustrated, it was difficult to focus on the message. Then after a few minutes my phone buzzed. It was my sister calling. Then she called again. I knew it was an emergency.
Mid sermon, I got up and walked out to call my sister. I know that usher was about to have a conniption! My sister and I had been caring for my parents who were both ill. That morning my sister said that mama was just not herself. I advised my sister to call the ambulance, and rushed to meet them at the hospital. My mama had suffered a second stroke.
A few days later I shared with a couple of friends what happened that day at church. One couldn't stop laughing and the other friend blasted me for "acting up" as she said, in church. All I knew was that I wouldn't be sitting in that usher's section ever again!