Disaster--Almost

This is the last weekend, I have to sell the church ornaments.  This will be my third weekend, where I stand outside ALL the weekend Masses to sell these ornaments.  Today it is the 4:00 Mass on a Saturday.  The temperature is hovering around freezing and it's windy--very windy.  The wind came in gusts.

You'll have to picture this.  I leave the in-law Christmas party to get to the end of the 4:00 Mass.  I don't think the hosts objected.  Too many leave the party and go outside to smoke cigarettes.  I was only gone a little longer than the smokers, who step outside.

Since Mass has started, there was no place to park.  I had to park far, far away, and walk, in the cold, in the wind.  I went in to assess how far along the Mass had progressed.  They were about in the middle.  During Communion, I went outside.

As a few were leaving, I had a customer.  I put down the bag of ornaments and a gust of wind blasted the entire bag down the sidewalk, spilling the ornaments all over the sidewalk and the street.  Horrors!  The street is Church Square (a four lane, four corner intersection with traffic lights at both ends of the church block.)  AND THERE'S ORNAMENTS BLOWING ACROSS THE SQUARE!!!

The customer I was waiting on, needed change, so I was taking off a mitten to put my hand in my pocket for change, when that same gust of wind ripped a roll of money out of my hand.

Now there's money and ornaments blowing down the street, down the sidewalk, and across the square.

I left the bag of ornaments to chase after the money.  Everyone was helping me.

Good thing, these people are church people because everyone returned the money and brought back the ornaments.  See Aquinas was right.  People are made in the image of God and therefore are basically good.

Everything ended happily.  I sold some ornaments.  I returned to the party.  No one noticed that I was gone, never mind the disaster I almost went through.  Thanks be to God.