Have a seat....or not

On Sunday, April 22, Jennifer and I had our last Gospel Meeting in Bishopville, SC.  Jeffrey S. volunteered to ride along with us early to the meeting to help us set up chairs, for which we were very thankful.  However, when we arrived at the room where the meeting was to be held, alas, there were no chairs!  The man who let us in informed us that he wasn't aware of our meeting and that all the chairs were being used for another event in the building next door.  He called his boss to see what could be done, and Jennifer and I started calling our friends to see if they could bring some chairs.  By this time, however, those who were coming from any distance would have already left home, so we were limited in who we could ask.  Also, most of the ones we could reach would arrive at the last minute since they now had to collect chairs before leaving home.  Finally, the men from the facility scrounged up 20 chairs for us.  We anticipated needing at least 50 or 60 for the meeting.  Some of our friends came with another 20.  We brought out all the rolling office chairs from the next room.  Then, from somewhere, they started hauling in some little chairs that had obviously been in storage for sometime.  They were quite dirty and somewhat rickety.  However, we were glad for them and set them up along with all the rest.  (Keep in mind that while all this is happening, people are coming, milling around, discussing the situation, offering help, etc.)  By now, we felt like we had plenty of seats, but more were on their way by our friends who had not gotten there yet.  Jennifer and I waited outside and intercepted them telling them that we would use their chairs in case of emergency, but for now they should just leave them in their cars.  When we finally got into the building at about 4:05 (Gospel Meeting was scheduled to start at 4:00), it took us a minute to locate our Bibles.  Even though we were running late, we stood in the back for another minute or two to catch our breath and try to remember if we had any thoughts for the meeting!  We then walked up to the front.  Jennifer went to the microphone to start the meeting, and I sat down in my nice little olive green student's chair.  What a surprise when the seat of my chair pitched forward, nearly dumping me out onto the floor!  The seat of the chair was connected to the legs with two screws in front and two in back.  The problem was that on this particular chair, the two back screws were missing.  When my weight hit the front of the chair, there was nothing to hold the back of the chair in place, so it lifted right up.  I caught myself and came down on the seat with a bang.  I saw a few smiles before I looked down and pondered my course of action.  I really didn't want to create more of a scene by going to the back for another chair, but neither did I want to get dumped out the next time I sat down on this one.  (I figured that my mind would be in no shape to be thinking about the condition of my chair the next time I went to sit down.)  All things considered, I decided that walking to the back for a new chair would probably be less distracting than falling on the floor in the middle of the meeting.  So that is what I did.  I tested my new seat in the back of the room before hauling it up to the front.  When I got back to my place and sat down, I got extremely tickled, and I could tell that Jennifer was having problems keeping it together as well by the way her voice wobbled while she sang.  I think I was finally able to join in on the third verse, but for a while I wondered if I would ever get straightened up.  The event in the next building was some sort of Gospel service as well, and while Jennifer was speaking, they got the music going.  My first thought was, "Poor Jennifer," and the thought that followed quickly on its heels was, "I hope they're done by the time it's my turn to speak!"  They were, and the rest of the meeting was uneventful.

Author's Note:
The events described in this post are in no way all-inclusive.  There is no way to describe the "feeling" of the situation in any way that could be completely understood by the reader.  No pictures were taken for reasons that are likely obvious to the reader.  If the reader feels inclined to carry a couple of extra folding chairs in the trunk the next time they attend Gospel Meeting, they should feel free to do so!