i got pied

At the preschool Fall Festival on November 8th, “Somebody” decided it would be fun to “pie” the pastor and the preschool director. For a donation, you could take a pie plate, fill it with cool whip, and whack Pasta Bort or Miss Sofia.”

The pie station was kind of slow at first. Apparently, some people feel a little skittish about pieing clergy and educators. But that all changed when Pastor Michelle from the Kingstowne Communion church arrived. Michelle and her congregation will be joining us in the new church when it opens. Her daughter, Olive, is one of our preschool students. Apparently, Methodist Pastors do not have the scruples that most Baptists have.

Michelle paid twice the normal fee for the privilege of pieing her Baptist colleague. In fact, she did it multiple times, talking all the while about what a good fundraiser it was. She even mentioned that next year she would be glad to join in the fun. (I pointed out that she didn’t have to wait. I’d be willing to pie her right then.) But alas, she had just put on her makeup so it “wasn’t a good time.” Anyway, Michelle’s generosity opened the floodgates and led to a flood of face piers.

My favorite moment of the afternoon was when one of our preschoolers gave it a try. He was game, and wanted to participate, but didn’t quite understand the process. At first he stuck his finger in the cool whip and tasted it. Then he scooped a big handful into an empty pie plate and proceeded to taste it. His father tried to explain that he was supposed to pie Pastor Bart’s face. He then took the pie plate and pied his own face.

This reminded me that we don’t always understand what God is calling us to do. It happens to all of us, just as it happened to Saul, Peter, and Moses. The best we can do is keep on trying, learn from our mistakes, and try to get it right. For me, I’m pretty certain that God is leading me to add an extra portion of Cool Whip to the pie that I will stick in Pastor Michelle’s face next year.