She's still a size 12


They're big on special days here. There´s a Secretary's Day with a longer coffee break, a Pastor´s Day with extra meetings and a Teacher's Day when the souck-soucks try to improve their marks. On Sunday it was Father's Day.

And it was hard luck if you happened to be male and were in our church that day. The pastor took one of Paul's strong denunciation passages and applied it unremittingly to fathers: liars, cheats, adulterers. At the end every male had to stand up, confess his sins to God, while the ladies remained seated and prayed for these weak specimens. I thought of remaining seated but didn't have the guts. Then we were all presented with a digital alarm clock. A really kind gesture but I couldn´t help thinking that it was to get us up earlier in the mornings. At least it wasn't like another church where the men were given aprons.

I blame the Virgin Mary for it all. In popular Latin theology Jesus is either the bloodied and hopeless; or the helpless baby. Mary is always impressive: pure skin, clear eyes and compassionate. Not too much hard work has affected her hands and she's still a size 12.

We leave for Scotland on Thursday: 2 granddaughters to baptize, one son to marry and a 60th birthday to celebrate. Despite my many sins, God's been terribly good.

I´ll email again when back in Colombia.

love

David


Photo: Seminary students: Responsible manhood and womanhood?

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