Deliverance comes in all shapes and sizes and sometimes from the least expected places. Yesterday it snuck in my house via Canada Post. Concealed among the mundane missives motivated by material matters (credit card bills, a phone bill, and a utility bill) lurked my salvation.
The gold envelope was slippery between my fingers as I turned it over. Overwhelmed, stunned, disbelief warring with incredibility, my eyes traveled from the return address emblazoned in the top left hand corner to the luridly coloured picture on the right hand side. Quickly I checked the address label. Had I picked up someone else's mail? I was still puzzled after ascertaining it was indeed addressed to my wife and myself. Why were we receiving mail from Save Me O Holy Queen by The Grace Of Jesus, Nobleton Ontario? I had a good idea who the garish picture on the envelope was supposed to be, but what did she want from me?
Bewilderment, revulsion, and hilarity were at war in my spirit as I laid aside the bills for the moment. At times like these, earthly matters pale into insignificance. When a vision of Mary appears in your mail, it's only polite to give it priority. Besides which, my curiosity was afire with questions that demanded answers. Why does this woman look like she's been sedated? What's with the box of Valentine Chocolates around her neck surrounded by thorns? Was this some new weight loss program that worked through a combination of Christian guilt and prayer?
Trembling fingers ripped open the envelope at one end, as I did not want to imperil any of its precious contents. Nestled within, wrapped inside four double-sided typed pages, awaited the full size image of the face on the envelope. Stunned, I could only stare in mingled horror and disbelief as I struggled to recover from the impact. It was if my aesthetic senses had been hit with a Mack truck. Slowly my eye traveled down from her Imperial margarine crown, past her mannequin realist face, to the candy box heart from which, what looks to be, golden flames sprout upward, and the circle of thorns that surround it.
Article comments
1 - Sister Ray
What do you mean by "licensed by the government"? It sounds like they just bought some stamps and mailed tracts to people, which is their right. I don't know what the rules are in Canada for what's a "charity" and what's purely a come-to-Jesus mailing. I don't think evangelism should be considered a charity the way, say St. Jude's Childrens Hospital is.
2 - Joey
Or a soup kitchen for the homeless. Or a shelter for battered women, or an outreach center for rape victims.
It's bigger than you, or your puny thoughts.