Have you ever seen a preacher stab a bottle of dishwashing liquid during his sermon? A preacher in Tennessee did.

He was preaching a sermon on joy that he called, “Being ReJOYvenated.”

On the way to church, he decided to liven up the sermon with an object lesson. So he stopped by a store and bought two bottles of Joy dishwashing liquid.

As he was preaching, he put a bottle of Joy in a big bowl and stabbed it repeatedly as he talked about how unforgiveness, bitterness and anger can rob our joy. Next, the preacher poured more liquid from the other bottle of Joy into the first bottle, refilling it. He talked about how when we face trials, God refills us with His joy and we can ooze our joy on others.

After the sermon, the minister went to the church kitchen to clean the bowl and prepare to preach the sermon again in the second morning service. However, he looked down and noticed that he had splashed dishwashing liquid all over the front of his pants. Afraid it would look like something else was on his pants, he did the logical thing any man would do. He got a wet paper towel and wiped it. Bad move. Now he had more bubbles and wetter pants. So he rushed to the men’s room, where there was a one of those driers on the wall to dry your hands.

The preacher pushed the button and pointed the drier at his pants, while leaning back so that the warm air would hit the front of his pants. As he was doing this, a visitor walked into the men’s room. The preacher said, “Hi, I’m getting ready for the sermon today.”

The visitor must have wondered what kind of sermon he was about to hear, or if he even wanted to hear it.

Suddenly the preacher thought about what he was preaching. His text was James 1:2: “Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials.” It dawned on him that if the early Christians could face serious trials with joy, then God could help him to preach about it, even with wet pants.

Read this column each Thursday for a mix of religion and humor. Read more “Holy Humor” on the Web page of First Baptist Church of Rincon at www.fbcrincon.com.