Michael Evans scowled at his reflection in the mirror hanging on his and Jasmine's bedroom wall. He shoved his new, unwillingly acquired, and all too necessary glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose and turned away from the mirror.
A very pregnant Jasmine, already dressed for church, came into the room and handed Mike the necklace that she wanted to wear.
She turned her back to him, holding her hair up off of her neck, and asked, "Are you still sulking over the glasses?"
"I'm not sulking." Mike answered, fiddling with the necklace's clasp. "Faith sulks; I don't sulk."
"Would pining for contacts be a more accurate way to put it, then?" Jasmine asked with a smile.
"If you weren't so pregnant right now, I'd hurt you."
His wife turned to face him once he finally conquered the clasp on her necklace.
She straightened his tie, saying, "No, you wouldn't."
He sighed because she was right and groused, "But I still wish that the contacts had worked out; now I look like a nerd."
"You do not look like a nerd… much. And besides, I like your glasses; I think that they look very nice on you. So quit moaning over the fact that contacts irritate your eyes and stop sulking like your teenager sister."
"I do not sulk!" Mike insisted.
Jasmine just rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse as the young couple headed out the door on their way to church.
Mike was paying a perfectly good amount of attention to the message of his pastor father – an uplifting sermon about the, for lack of a better word, perks of living in Heaven – when Alex Evans did one of the most embarrassing things that a preacher can do, at least in his child's opinion. He called his son out by name.
"And just think, Mike, when you get away from this earth and into Heaven, you can throw away those new glasses that you love so much!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Mike caught his wife grinning from her place at his side. He sighed internally, smiling ruefully as a few members of the congregation turned to glance at him.
Oh, the "perks" of being a preacher's kid, and this was only one of them.
Faith listened intently as her father continued preaching.
"You know, if you can think of the greatest moment in your life here on earth and then just imagine how small a thing that's going to seem like when you and I can compare it to seeing the King of Kings face to face. I still remember the day; it's been over fifteen years ago now, that Faith was born. And as I looked down on my little baby girl, all wrinkled, red, screaming seven pounds of her –"
At this unnecessary outpouring of information from her father, Faith felt her eyes widen with horror as people turned to look at her as they had done to Mike only a minute ago.
"But, folks," Alex continued on without noticing a thing about her expression. "While seeing my new baby was an absolutely amazing thing, it will be like nothing when I see my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
Faith met her brother's sympathetic gaze from across the church aisle. At least someone here understood this particular "perk" – only one of the many – of being a preacher's kid.
I confess, this is a little bit of a personal rant being let out here, since I am - I admit it - a preacher's kid. I hope that you liked the story; if so please review! Thanks! Puppy-dog eyes still aren't working unfortunately, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Maybe.:)