I hadn’t seen my old friend Epiphras in a long time. It could be because he is two thousand years old and doesn’t move as quickly as he used to, but still, I thought he looked pretty good for someone with that many miles on him.
“So how are things going John?” he asked.
“Pretty well Ep,” I replied. He was looking for a place to graze his donkey and I pointed out, “We’ve had a pretty bad drought this past year so we took out all the grass and we’re putting in a playground for the children.” He nodded his head as we led Eutychius, his old burro, over to the cell phone tower to munch on some weeds.
“That sounds like a good idea John. So where are all the people?” he asked looking around on a Sunday morning. “I thought there were more Christians at Canyon View than this.”
“Well today is the Super Bowl,” I explained. “A lot of people stayed home to watch the game.”
“Hmm,” he muttered stroking his beard. “When I was younger Christians generally tried to stay away from the games. It seemed like we were the main attraction – at least for the lions.”
“Oh, it’s not like that any more Ep,” I said.
“The contestants don’t wear armor and try to beat each other up?” he asked.
“Well, now we serve hot wings and have tailgate parties and watch commercials,” I explained.
“And people like that?” he asked cocking his eye at me.
“Oh yes! It’s a huge attraction.”
“Then perhaps you should try serving wings and running commercials during your sermon,” he suggested with a twinkle in his eye.
“Nice talking to you Epiphras. Let me know the next time you are coming for a visit so I can make sure the lions are hungry.”