A couple of signs in the Walmart parking lot give the following instructions, “Reserved parking for parents of sick children courtesy of Wal-Mart pharmacy, please limit time to 15 min.” The aforesaid parking spaces are prime spaces in the front of Walmart, very close to the front doors. The sign is very clear.

As an observer of human behavior, I have noticed that people freely park in these parking places. I know they are not pharmacy customers because I have stalked them in the store. They went in and bought a basket full of stuff. It takes most of them longer than 15 mins to shop. If Walmart can call it a “min” so can I. These parking place interlopers never go near the pharmacy. I can’t offer factual information about the health of their children, because I rarely see children leaving the vehicles. I guess they left the sick kids at home.

They are like the people who park in the clergy parking places at the hospital. Not that we are special people by any means, but sometimes we are at the hospital taking care of an emergency and need to get in there quickly. I suspect that the Billy Bob Bubba’s Plumbers Truck is not the mode of transportation for a minister, although it could be. So, stay out of the clergy parking places at NPRH unless you are ordained. God will get you!

Here is the strain on this week’s chain.

Last week I was going to Walmart to get doggy treats. The dogs eat better than I do, and a weekly treat trip is the highlight of my shopping week. In front of me in traffic was a nice person in a black Jeep Grand Cherokee, license plate number, well I can’t tell you that! She pulled into the sick children parking place and jumped out of her vehicle.

To say she parked her black Jeep Grand Cherokee in the parking place would be stretching it. She abandoned her vehicle to go into the store. She was about three feet into the parking space and the rest of the vehicle was sticking out into the flow of traffic.

I am sensitive to vehicles sticking out because my truck is very large and I no longer drive with the acumen of a thirty year old.
I did spy her in the store and she was not going to the pharmacy. Who would have guessed that?

If you are going to use the special parking place, please pull all the way in. Go ahead, overcome the guilt and pull that black Jeep Grand Cherokee all the way to the post holding the parking space sign. That way you will not block traffic trying to negotiate the Walmart parking lot. When you are trying to be respectable while sinning, it gums up the whole works.

How about this, if you are going to sin, sin boldly. Go ahead and throw your whole being into the sin. Don’t hold back. Don’t try to be respectable when you are sinning. Get down and dirty. Quit making excuses for your sin, just be who you are. Be seen in your sin. Quit trying to hide what you are doing. Let the world know you are sinning. Pull that vehicle all the way in the parking place even though you have no business parking there. It is ok. Go ahead and park in the clergy spots even though you are not. Heck, park in the doctors’ spots. You are a sinner; quit acting like you are not. Give up justifying your bad behavior; go ahead admit you are a sinner. You are a dirty rotten hoping not even God will see your sin sinner.

Welcome to the sinners club. Now that you have admitted it, we can work on curing it.

There will be a meeting of sinners at the Methodist Church on Sunday morning. We admit it! I am the chief sinner in charge. We are calling on God’s grace to save us!