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Sometimes you simply forget to turn off the cell phone.

It happened to our family at the most inopportune time. 

My wife and I were visiting our out-of-town son and  excitedly joined him for a Sunday morning service at his church.  It was an older, spacious sanctuary that could double as an echo chamber.

Regrettably we chose to sit on a pew in the center of the church about 15 rows away from the pulpit.  Choice seats if you had to buy tickets.

The Pastor was midway through his sermon when the cell phone in my wife's purse suddenly erupted with a shrill blast.  Those who were dozing snapped to attention and the Pastor was stopped in mid sentence.

In our pew it was a mad scramble to silence the unwelcome interruption and of course there was no easy access to the cell phone compartment of my wife's purse.

It seemed every ring that followed set a new decibel record  and sandwiched in the middle of the long pew, we had no avenue for escape.

The Pastor, bless his heart, shook off the distraction and continued to preach without a single condemning glance in our direction.  

I don't remember what his sermon was about but forgiveness would have been a very timely subject.  Our son certainly had a chance to extend that  important tenet of his faith in our direction. 

It wasn't easy for him to introduce us to his Pastor when we left that morning with the traditional handshake.  The greeting was cordial and we chose not to linger.

So what did we learn from this embarrassing incident?  Not as much as you might think.  

Read my next blog and you'll understand.

Knicely done!