Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmastime

Last year, I was working at the Motel 6 in Marshall, Texas. Yep, one of the most important roles in the Christmas story and that was me, the Innkeeper.

Allow me to back up for a moment, on the Sunday before Christmas Eve, I told my pastor The Reverend Doctor James Freeman that I would not be in worship because I had to work at the Motel. I added that IF Jesus and Maria came in a Bronco and she was pregnant I would text because it was going down.

Note: No, Jesus and Maria isn't racist. Admittedly, Spanish is the only language where the name of our Lord is commonly used as a proper first name and Maria is a common first name in Spanish speaking countries, but if ascribing these two to be the modern doppelgangers of the parents of the Lord is racist I would ask, "Wait, is being parents of the Lord a bad thing?"

The defense is restless, on with the story.

So that night, some guy (a white guy for those keeping score) came to get a refund for the room and said his girlfriend would be up in ten minutes with the other key. Thirty minutes later, she still wasn't there.

I went to the room to rush her out. Kind of a Motel 6 no-no, but I did it. So she answers the door and what do I see? She's pregnant. She's smoking. There are beer bottles all over the room. I get to tell her not that there is no room at the inn, but her boyfriend checked her out and she has to leave. What a guy.

She begins to cry and load her bag. She starts with her smokes. Gets the rest of the beers. Grabs her phone. The whole time she cries about the friend whose house she was supposed to be going and where is her boyfriend. If I was a betting man, he was in the bathroom. Their car was still outside.

I get the key. I get her out. I see them drive off ten minutes later. Ever want to feel like Scrooge? Kick a pregnant woman out of a motel on Christmas Eve.

Let me say again, corporately I was right. Legally I was right. Morally I was right. Now let me add this, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan left the injured man with enough money for an estimated two month stay and promised to come and pay the extra. The boyfriend took the money back, he didn't pay for the night.

Yeah, I didn't bother to text this story to Jim. Merry Christmas.