Lessons from an Old Church Pew

I love an old pew.

There are stories
hidden within the wood
of an old pew.

One story goes like this...

Daddy was the preacher man and
Mama played the piano.

Mark Lowry said,
"Mama would be playing and singing,
' Oh, victory in Jesus,
my Savior forever,
then she'd spot me in the balcony'."

Like his mama,
Mama would clear her throat
and you could hear it above the singing.

One particular Sunday, Mama's
watchful eye caught me undressing.

Yes, right there on the
second row, piano side pew.

What can you expect
from a three-year old dressed
 in lace from head to toe?

First, the hat came off,
then the white gloves,
then the socks,
then the shoes.

Before I could finish,
she had snatched me up
and taken me to the dreaded
"back Sunday School room,"
and commenced to "wear me out."

I learned to be quiet in church...

OR

be pinched.

Whew!  Mama didn't just pinch;
she dug her nails in, twisted and pulled.

Can I get a witness???

I guess that was better than
the thump on the back of the head
that my brother got for going
to sleep on the front row pew.


It was under the church pew
that I "spit that gum out."

It was on a church pew that
I learned to talk without being heard,
The pre-cell phone, note-passing trick.

We only got caught once.

In his pulpit voice Daddy said,
"I know two teenagers who
are gonna get it when they get home."

We knew who "they" was
and "get it" we did!

But most importantly,
it was while sitting on a church pew
that I first felt the call of God.

It was from a pew like this that
I walked forward and gave my heart to Jesus.

This pew has eternal significance.

It was from a church pew and a preacher-man daddy

and a piano-playing mama

that I learned to be quiet, not chew gum or

pass notes in church.

More importantly, it was here that 

I accepted and learned to love Jesus.

Blessings in Abundance, 

Bonnie:)