Victory in Jesus

​We are off on a trip with our grandsons, and while we were driving last night, telling stories, of course, and Tom says, “Tell the boys about the ‘Victory in Jesus’ guy.”  I said, “Oh my goodness, I had totally forgotten what I was going to write my story about this week, and you reminded me!”  I had seen this crazy “leggings gone bad” montage of pictures this week which reminded me of this and just made me laugh again.  Isn’t it amazing how things that happened 45 years ago can still make you laugh?  I love it – the things you forget that are so important, and then you latch on to that small memory to hold of something that brightened your day!
 
I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene in Ravenswood, and I have so many great memories of that church and its people.  My friends all went there, and we were a tight-knit youth group.  I don’t remember us taking a ton of big expensive trips and doing all the things that churches feel they have to do with the youth these days to keep from losing them, but we just went to church three times a week, tried not to get caught by Rev. Schmidt writing notes (or he would call you out!  Which, yes, I know from personal experience….)  We tried not to get “the snap” from our mothers which meant we had to leave the back rows with the teens and go sit with our parents, walking that long humiliating “perp walk” up the aisle with everyone watching.  We had crushes on each other in the youth group, and some even got married and are still married today – praise God!  All in all, it was just a great place to be and to grow up!
 
My friend Shelly and I usually sat on the back two rows, and as long as we were good, we were allowed not to sit with mom and dad.  Mom was in the choir, and one particular morning, she caught us laughing hysterically and we got in huge trouble.  Problem was, there was this guy who was right in front of us, and he had on these light tan polyester pants, fitting fairly tight, but not gross or anything.  I mean, who notices an old man’s pants anyway?  We never would have but for the fact he was keeping time to the song by squeezing his butt cheeks.  No lie.  The song was Victory in Jesus, and with every beat, he would squeeze a bit and hold.  I do not even know how we noticed it to start with – must have looked down at the hymn book and his rear was in the line of sight.  Once it was on our radar, game on!  You couldn’t stop watching.  It was mesmerizing.  And yes, I am easily mesmerized….
 
The longer we watched, the more hilarious it became.  It was impossible not to laugh.  At the end of the song, we were practically lying down in the pew, trying to hide our faces.  The hiding didn’t work, because on the way home, as soon as we get in the car, my mom turns around and says, “All right girls, would you like to share what was so hysterical this morning?”  We spill the whole story, and my parents laughed as well – and we made them sit with us the next week just to prove we hadn’t made the whole thing up, and even mom had to crack a smile.  I don’t think any of us sings Victory in Jesus now without thinking of this guy. 
 
And you ask, what in the world is going to be the moral of this story?  Hold tight to your witness for the Lord, as you never know who might be watching……