Country Funeral
As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave-side service for a homeless man,
with no family or friends.
The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country,
and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost; and being a typical man did not stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew, who were eating lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight.
I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, stepped to the side of the open grave and saw that the vault lid was already in place.
I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long, but this was the proper thing to do.
The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I poured out my heart and soul As I preached the workers began to say "Amen,"
"Praisethe Lord," and "Glory"!
I preached, and I preached, like I'd never preached before, from Genesis all the way to Revelations.
I closed the lengthy service with a prayer and walked to my car.
As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another,
"I ain't never seen anything like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."