Читать книгу Live Forever - Mylon Le Fevre - Страница 24

Most kids don’t commit the unpardonable sin in church before they’re 10 years old. But I did. Or so I thought.

The best I remember, it was a sweltering day in August during a typical Sunday morning service. With no air

conditioning to cool things off, funeral-home fans were waving frantically throughout the church. My

granddaddy’s voice, rising in its familiar, song-like rhythm, had inspired the congregation, and the weekly jumping

and hollering had commenced.

The scene was familiar to me. I saw it all the time. But I was caught off guard when one elderly gentleman who

usually slept in church woke up. Realizing he hadn’t hollered yet, he screamed so loud it scared me right out of

my seat. When "hollering-man" screamed, then "running-man" took off around the pews. That was

"chicken-woman’s" cue to do her thing and all I can tell you is, it was on!

I don’t know what her real name was but all of us kids called her “chicken-woman” because when Granddaddy got

wound up, she would jump to her feet, whooping with her elbows out like wings, and bob her head back and forth

just like a chicken! When I inquired as a child why people did stuff like that in church, the Holy Ghost always got

the blame. So the Sunday Momma heard me say “Look out, here comes chicken-woman!” I found myself in major

trouble.

Momma told me not to make fun of the Holy Ghost because it was blasphemy. I asked what blasphemy was and

she said it was the unforgivable sin. That freaked me out. I thought, Oh Lord, it’s too late, I’ve already done it!

I wish I’d known then what I know now: that God is so good, He’s already granted forgiveness to anybody who

will receive it (including little boys baffled by what they see in church); that the Holy Spirit is wonderful not

weird. I guess my parents didn’t know how to explain those things to me. Or maybe they thought I was too young

to understand. Either way, I left church that day more confused than ever. I knew I needed God’s help and

desperately wanted to go to heaven instead of hell. But, terrified by the thought of doing “the chicken” in front of

my friends, I told the Lord if it was all right with Him I’d just take a pass on that Holy Ghost deal.

22