I spent the better part of last week working on one of my lower level bedrooms - it was my small version of “Extreme Home Makeover.” Water, leaking in through a foundation crack, had caused a fair amount of rot, requiring part of a wall to be re-built. The carpet padding also needed to be replaced after having gone through numerous wet-dry cycles. I knew before I started that the work was not going to be limited to just the wall and flooring. As long as I was going to have to paint the repaired wall, I might as well paint the ceiling; and if I was painting the ceiling, I should remove the ceiling speaker that has never worked, and so on and so on. I had all the material I needed except for the carpet padding, which I planned on buying later while the freshly painted ceiling dried. While prepping to paint, I turned my t-shirt inside out in case paint splattered on it. When the painting was done, I cleaned up the paint roller and I was off to the store.
In the carpeting department at the local “Lumber-rama,” an employee noticed me intently looking for something, so he approached and asked, “Can I help you?” I turned around and told him I was looking for carpet padding. He asked, “What thickness?” I hadn’t brought a sample piece, and at that moment my mind went blank and I couldn’t answer. As I stood there trying to figure out what thickness of padding I needed, I noticed that the guy helping me had a strange look on his face. I called home and asked my daughter to run out to the garage and measure the thickness of the old padding, then I small-talked with the carpet guy while we waited for her to relay the answer. She did well, and once I knew the thickness needed, two younger employees lowered the roll of goods from the tallest shelf in the store. I thanked them all and carted my padding through the store. I said hello to everyone I passed along the way, and finally a big thanks to the cashier who rang up my purchase.
I was grateful that my daughter was able to help, so when I got home I thanked her. But instead of her saying “You’re welcome,” she just gave me a funny look, and in an incredulous tone asked, “Did you go to the store looking like that?” I normally don’t wear a baseball cap, but this time I did. Was it the hat? Laughing, she said, “Not your hat - it’s your shirt! It’s inside out and backwards!” I looked down at the dark t-shirt I was wearing, and the white tag gleamed brilliantly under my chin – my shirt was indeed inside out and backwards. I had forgotten to switch it around when I went to the store! Now, all of the strange looks I had received as I greeted people made perfect sense. As I looked in a mirror, the white tag against the dark shirt reminded me of a cleric’s collar, but there are no cleric’s collars with printed washing and care instructions on them. It was just goofy. I couldn’t help but bust out laughing as well.
A week later, I’m still laughing, but I do wish I had been clued in about my shirt. Something that still sticks in my mind regarding my “fashion statement” is that no one I encountered said anything to me about it. I walked through a large store and passed dozens of people and no one said, “What’s with the shirt?” Is it because there’s a well accepted practice of not pointing things out to people, (especially weirdoes who wear their shirts inside out and backwards)? Or is it just that we’ve all become accustomed to non-traditional fashion statements - to each their own, right? Most probably it boiled down to a lack of familiarity; no doubt it would be uncomfortable for each of us to point out such fashion misdeeds to someone we didn’t know. In truth, all of the above come into play in a situation such as I had. Hopefully, if some one I knew had seen me, he would have gently and humbly told me my shirt was inside out and backwards.
God knows the truth of it better than any of us. Spiritually speaking, that’s why He directs us to look out for each other and for the truth. “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” (Gal. 6:1)
It is not God’s intention that we become “fashion” police, but it is His intention that we care and love each other enough that we would not ignore it if we notice a brother or sister in Christ walking off the path of obedience. He also tells us to be careful not to become accustomed to non-traditional “fashions,” making it difficult to know what the path of obedience actually looks like and walking off of it ourselves. So, if you see me walking around inside out and backwards, off the path of obedience, I hope you will gently and humbly tell me. God and I want you to do that. I hope you want that too.
Grace to you.
Dave Paukner
