I knew I shouldn’t be feeling a breeze wafting across my leg, but since I was at that moment being introduced to speak to a group of ladies gathered at a church for a day-long retreat, it wasn’t the time to think about that breeze.
Then, literally seconds before I had to walk up to the podium, a flash of white from the vicinity of that same leg caught my eye.
I glanced down and realized that white blob was my exposed thigh, in all its cellulite-dimpled glory, poking out from a seam in my pants that was unraveling right before my eyes.
There was nothing I could do but clutch the side of my britches and scoot quickly behind the big pulpit.
I then proceeded to share with my audience exactly what was happening to me.
“Ok, I have a confession to make,” I began.
(By the way, if you ever want to quickly snag the attention of an audience, nothing perks up ears quite like the promise of a good confession.)
“I just discovered the seam of my pants leg is coming undone,” I explained. “I have no idea how this happened, but believe me, it’s better for all of us if I just stay behind this pulpit.”
With three more speaking sessions scheduled that day, it would’ve been a long day if I hadn’t had a pair of jeans in my car.
I recently remembered this incident because the pastor of my church suffered a similar embarrassment a couple of Sundays ago. A few minutes into his sermon, he experienced every public speaker’s worst nightmare—he realized his fly was open.
To make matters worse, he had no place to hide because he preaches without a pulpit. Spinning around quickly, he deftly zipped up his britches and acknowledged his faux pas to the congregation.
“I wanted to be open, but not THAT open,” he laughed.
Personally, I appreciate that kind of candor. Why not acknowledge the obvious? In my experience, it usually makes a bad situation worse when we try to pretend it didn’t happen.
I think that might be God’s philosophy, too, based on what I read in the Bible.
I mean, if you were God and were going to write a book about yourself and your truth, would you include some of what God has included in His book?
From a strictly human standpoint, much of the Bible might be considered the opposite of a good “spin job.”
We start in Genesis with the very first couple disobeying their Creator. A few pages later, one of their sons murders the other son. Things only get worse from there, and pretty soon, peoples’ hearts are so evil that God has to destroy everyone on earth but Noah and his family.
After the flood, the sin parade resumes. Moses impulsively murders an Egyptian, Abraham lies about his wife, David commits adultery with Bathsheba and arranges her husband’s death, the Israelites constantly abandon God to worship idols, Judas betrays Jesus and Peter denies even knowing Him.
Scandals seem to abound on God’s team, but He doesn’t try to deny or hide them.
He is, after all, the God of all truth and the Bible is the too-honest-to-be-fiction story of His gracious, pursuing love for very flawed people.
The natural way of man is to cover up and live in fear of being exposed; the way of God is to bring to light and set free.
Why not acknowledge the obvious? We’re all sinners in need of a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ.
As Jesus said, “… you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).