Notes from Norman

SOAP OPERA THEOLOGY

It’s amazing what you can learn if you pay attention to what’s going on around you. I really wasn’t paying all that much attention when I pushed my grocery cart up to the cash register at Kroger. I was going through a mental checklist to make sure I got everything Miz Ann wrote on the list. As you might imagine, I missed a few things on the checklist,but that’s not my fault. My concentration was broken when the man in front of me said, “Did I hear you say you are going to pay from my groceries.”

I don’t know what the man was smoking or what made him think that I was his sugar daddy, but I assured him that paying for his groceries was not on my agenda for that day. He laughed and said that he often uses that as a conversation starter. I’m sure it does begin a discussion most of the time. He turned out to be a nice guy, and we had an enjoyable conversation.

At one point he said, “You need to have a little fun in life. It’s like my pastor says, ‘As the world turns you have only one life to live, and you’re probably going to end up in the general hospital.’” I said something about spending too much time with daytime television, and we went our separate ways. As I reflect on it, I think his soap opera theology is one story too short. Here’s my amended version, “As the world turns, you have only one life to live, and you’re probably going to end up in general hospital. Therefore you need to search for the guiding light.”

posted by Norman @ 7:16 AM