The Bra Bonanza of 2009.

If God really does humble the proud - and He does, oh believe me, He does - then it's any wonder He has any time to help Melissa win Dancing With the Stars or bring justice to pirates run amok.

Because I take up A LOT of His time.

Take this weekend for instance.

In what should have been a weekend dedicated entirely to Him, a Sunday spent doing nothing but worshipping and praising Him and a worship service where my focus should have been solely on Him, I had to go and mess it all up. By getting my focus off of Him and on, you guessed it, me.

I hate it when that happens.

But it happens. I admit it. I am but a sinner, saved by grace...can I get a whatwhat?

So on Sunday, in what was one incredibly powerful worship service and while I was standing in the choir loft, my mind drifted to the fact that this time next year I will be attending a new church. Not the one I have faithfully attended for the past eight years. Not the one I love just like a second home. Not the one full of people I love and friends I admire. Nope. A different one. And so for a moment, I got sad. And when I get sad, this is how my thoughts go:

Next year at Easter I will be somewhere different. I will be singing with a different choir in a different choir loft. I wonder if their songs will be as good as ours. I wonder if I'll be an alto or if I'll switch to soprano just to make sure I don't lose some of my upper register. Yep, I won't be looking out at these people - I'll be looking at different people. New people. I wonder if they'll like me. They might like me better if I cut my hair. Or if I buy some of those Jessica Simpson hair extensions and then my hair will look like it's already grown out and it won't be at this "in-between" phase which really puts people off. Wow. It's Easter. Oh, and why am I not singing? Why am I not singing the solo this year since it's my last Easter to spend at this church? What's up with that? It's probably best though since my hair is

kind of in-between.

Embarrassing, I know.

But honest.

Those are how fast and shallow and prideful my thoughts were running.

I can admit this now because I have repented and asked Him to please forgive my ridiculousness and I feel certain He has. He does every time.

But just so He can still show who's boss, here's what happened next.

After the choir was dismissed from the choir loft I headed down to the seat the AG and Meridith was saving for me. Rocco was sitting with his daddy since he had been suffering from an ear infection all weekend and wasn't quite up to the nursery, and so happily I slid into my seat and proudly placed what I felt certain was the cutest kid in the building on my lap. (See? Again, PRIDE.) Within minutes however the Pastor started his Easter message and Rocco decided that sitting on mom's lap wasn't all it was cracked up to be. So as I got up to carry him out of the service God proved once again that He knows me inside and out and it was high time everyone else did, too.

And right then and there, as I walked from the fourth row from the front all the way down the middle aisle and out the back door, past some 1200 people who I feel certain were staring at me and not the pastor (durn...PRIDE, again) Rocco grabs the neckline of my dress....yanks it all the way to the left....and I never notice a thing.

And now 1200 people know that my bra is tan, has flowers sewn into it and has straps as wide as Interstate 65.

Yes, that's right. It wasn't until I walked out the back door of the sanctuary and a friend of mine saw me and said, "Oh Mel, you're bra...it's....it's...showing...Rocco let go of mama's dress...oh, yes...it's showing...bad," that I decided to breathe my last breath and die right there.

And die, I did.

To my hair being not quite short and not quite long.
To being not quite brunette and not quite blond.
To moving.
To not having the starring role on Easter Sunday.
To focusing on me.
To not focusing on Him.
To pride.

And later - when David laughed so hard he cried - I did, too. And I admitted that I was glad that God is still in the business of giving "grace to the humble and resisting the proud." The proud. That would be me.

So there you have it, the Bra Bonanza of 2009. If you would like to donate to the Bra Cause you may do so by sending checks or money orders. Thank you.