Get It Right
Retirement finally arrived for Wayne and Leann Moultree. They had a plan in place and had executed it flawlessly for the last five years and now the long awaited day had arrived. They were joyful and thankful, even praying and expressing gratitude to the good Lord for his obvious part in helping them arrive at this point in their lives. All that was left was to call the movers, have them load the last of their belongings on the moving van, drive them to Raleigh, Mississippi, store them in a warehouse and await the arrival of the Moultrees. Wayne and Leann were taking a vacation enroute from Dallas, Texas to their retirement home.
The Moultrees had already bought a home in Raleigh and had been fixing it up, externally and internally, for the last three years and had it pretty much completed by the time retirement rolled around. Their biggest hurdle lay in getting to know the people and establishing relationships again. Although both of them had been born and raised in Raleigh, they had been away for the past thirty five years. It was surprising to them how much things, and people, had changed in their absence. In many instances, they failed to recognize the folks they had attended school with. It was going to be a learning experience for them, but one they were looking forward to.
One of the first things they did to close the gap on the learning curve, was to join the First Baptist Church of Raleigh. Under the guidance and leadership of Reverend Noah Spencer, the First Baptist Church had grown to a congregation of three hundred most of which could be found assembled on any given day or night of scheduled worship or activity. Unfortunately, the Moultrees were not as dedicated as the rest of the congregation for their first six months back in Raleigh. Consequently, many of the patrons of the First Baptist Church of Raleigh did not know the Moultrees and did not recognize them when they saw them. Finally identifying their low attendance at church to be a mistake on their part, the Moultrees started attending every service that First Baptist Church held.
It was on a Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting with Reverend Spencer leading as usual. When he posed the question of whether or not anyone had any testimony of praise they would like to share with the audience, Leann Moultree calmly walked up to the podium and took the microphone.
“I would like to share a testimony of praise for the Lord with you. Prayer really works and the Lord always listens and answers prayers. A while ago my husband, Wayne and I were riding our bicycles out on SCR 37. He hit a pot hole in front of the Hospital and went over the handlebars crushing and tearing up his scrotum. It was lucky for him it happened in front of the Hospital.”
It was at this point that all the men in the audience including the Reverend, had their faces screwed up in a winched look as if they were imagining how the pain must have felt. Some of the women looked surprised while others had a smirk on their face.
Leann continued, “The doctors said it was extremely lucky that medical help was available immediately after the accident. The tearing and crushing of his scrotum caused by the accident could affect the other organs nearby and cause them to be rendered ineffective in a worse case scenario or reduced in effectivity if not careful.”
By now the men in the audience were squirming in their seats imagining the pain that poor Wayne went through and was feeling sorry for him. The women were dumbfounded and speechless.
Continuing on, Leann said, “The doctors were able fix Wayne up as good as new using some new medical technology. You can’t tell his scrotum was ever crushed and torn. They used some new space aged screen wire mesh and modern surgical procedures using a laser, and now Wayne’s scrotum is good as new. I prayed for Wayne every day he was in the Smith County Hospital. The Lord answered my prayers and I am truly thankful. “
As Leann made her way back to her seat amid a quiet and stunned crowd, the Reverend Spencer stood aghast at the podium completely at a loss for words. Looking down the aisle, he saw a tall, lanky man strolling up to the podium at the front of the room. Picking up the microphone the man said;
“My name is Wayne Moultree. I just wanted to remind my wife that it is ‘sternum’ not ‘scrotum’.”
It took Reverend Spencer fifteen minutes to quell the laughter and close the Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting. This night would be the subject of discussion for the following week around Raleigh.
Leann’s face was red with embarrassment for most of the following week. But everyone in the town of Raleigh knew the Moultrees from that Prayer Meeting night on.
