Here’s the story as my friend told it to me.
Dave was pastoring a small church in a deep southern town while living in a city some miles away. Weekdays, Dave worked for the health department.
One day, his church leadership requested that Dave get ordained. He passed this on to his home church pastor in the city.
The pastor said, “Dave, anyone in particular you want to preach your ordination?” Dave couldn’t think of anyone. “I’ll leave that to you,” he said.
The night of the big event, Dave entered the church sanctuary and spotted a colleague from the health department. As they exchanged greetings, the friend said, “Uh, Dave. Have you seen who’s preaching your service tonight?” He hadn’t.
As soon as he laid eyes on the featured preacher, Dave stood there in shock.
That preacher was a retired pastor who lived in the city. Only a few weeks before, Dave had served him with official papers demanding that he take care of some health issues on his property or face legal action. The preacher had defiantly cursed David out, creating quite a spectacle.
“He did take the remedial action we demanded, however,” Dave says.
But even so.
The preacher who cursed David out is now about to preach his ordination service.