know your audience

Another day at the nursing home.
As usual, I came with way too many ideas of covering way too much material. I wanted to talk about Believing God, and how many of us Believe in God, but don't always believe God. I told them the story of Abraham. They got interested when I related his travels to the modern day places -- Iraq, to Turkey, through Syria, to Israel. The recognizable place names drew them in. And when I told them that I myself had visited Haran, and related how dusty I got walking in Haran, they were really engrossed.

But the piece de resistance was when I [incorrectly] told them that Abraham was 80 years old when the Lord told him to travel to a different land (actually, the Bible says he was 75, but I remembered it wrong). Suddenly there was something they could identify with. They loved hearing that God had spoken to him at that age, and given him a big task to do.

Afterwards, they seemed more awake then usual. One lady in particular seemed excited and gleefully beckoned me over. I anticipated some comment about how inspiring my preaching was. She gestured for me to come closer, and proclaimed:

You have beautiful teeth!

All I could think of was "In the country of the blind the one eyed man is king”.