Here are two sermons I gave on Healing of Shame.
This audio does not have the story I told to introduce the message.
The story was this.
Linda and I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from a friend. It was ordered through Monroe Florist (they do a great job!). The flowers had a card on it, from our friends.
We kept the flowers in a vase on our kitchen table.
When the day came to throw them away, Linda took them and placed them on a bench on our front porch.
I was out doing something at the time. When I came home, I saw the flowers on the porch. I thought, "How nice - someone has given us a gift of flowers. I read the card. I saw the tag that said "Monroe Florist."
And I saw the horrendous condition of the flowers - hung over, decaying. And I felt anger.
Anger - that Monroe Florist would deliver flowers like this to us!
So, I called Monroe Florist. "You delivered worn-out, beat-up flowers to our house!"
The florist person checked her records. "Sir, we have no record of delivering flowers to your home."
"I have them before me. I am reading the tag that says "Monroe Florist" right now!"
"I am sorry sir. We have no record of such a delivery.
I hung up. What was going on?
Then Linda came into the kitchen. I told her the story. She said, "You called who?!"
Monroe Florist.
"John, these are the flowers given to us a few weeks ago. I put them on the porch to have you throw them into the garbage."
Oh.
I felt embarrassed.
The sermon picks up at this point...