For the last 15 years I have travelled from sea to shining sea, coast to coast with my “porch pals” at Women of Faith.
We got labelled “porch pals” as we never leave the arena when any one of us is on stage and we stay as close to the stage as possible so our darling crew actually built us a porch at the foot of the stairs leading up to the stage. We do this for several reasons…
1-We love each other a whole lot
2-Sometimes we forget our message so we are close enough to yell, “It’s the bit about the cat who wanted to be an opera singer!”
3-We get nervous and the porch has a lot of hugging room
4-Snacks…snacks are huge
5-We love each other a whole stinking lot
Over the years there have been many memorable weekends but one in particular stands out as a weekend my dog-loving soul will never forget.
We arrived at the arena that Thursday night knowing that the following morning 15,000 women would fill each seat only to be told that the arena had done the unthinkable. They had double booked the arena, 2 events on the same weekend!
WOMEN OF FAITH…and
THE DOG SHOW!!!!!
After a lot of discussion between our amazing staff, the arena staff and the colorful dog show staff a compromise was agreed upon. Women of Faith would have the main arena as we were the larger number, the dog show would have the lower bowl but our book tables and signing lines would be down there too.
Luci Swindoll and I LOVED that.
We took some of the signs posted on the groomers tables and put them on our book tables.
“Please clean up your own mess.”
“Please keep barking to a minimum.”
“If you suspect that fleas may be present please exit the building.”
During a break I wandered downstairs to watch the trainers prepare the dogs for their two minutes in the ring. On woman horrified me. She looked like she may well have been Adolf Hitler’s daughter!
She was staring into the eye of a very sweet wee puppy but she was the one barking.
“Okay…look at me. You have two minutes to get it right. We have been working on this for months. If you blow it in there, it’s over, do you hear me, O-V-E-R! KEEP YOUR TAIL STRAIGHT!!!!”
I contemplated kidnapping the dog or at least passing it a card for my therapist.
That night as I stood on stage in front of 15,000 women one thought was uppermost in my mind and about to burst out of my heart…
God loves us right now, as we are…and we don’t have to keep our tails straight!
It’s never about our performance, it’s always about His love.
We bring nothing to the table because Jesus said, “It is finished!”
Just come as you are:)
