That stands for Pastor Pizza Party. I went to one yesterday. A friend of mine from the Christian writers group ACFW is the head representative of God at a local church. His church holds a number of different fund raisers for the events that they host. Yesterday’s fund raiser was at a local (for him) pizza parlor, Angelo’s.

I’ll be the first to admit that I really went to see how his congregation treated him. I couldn’t wait to hear my friend John Otte referred to as Pastor. I know: that’s a little twisted. But I know John as a fellow nerd. He’s a Trekkie deep down (I refuse to call myself a Trekker. Sorry, not politically correct but that’s the way it is.) He regularly posts Star Wars humor on Facebook and I know him as an affable guy with a great sense of humor and a lovely book called “Failstate” that I read a few months ago.

So, to make a long story short, Angelo’s basically lets them take over the restaurant for a night. John supplies the wait staff/bus staff from his church and the restaurant gives the church a percentage of the till that night. Everybody wins. I ordered a veggie pizza to take out and watched as the scene unfolded in front of me – my friend John becoming Pastor John.

And … well, he’s the same guy. No pretenses, no nonsense. He’s just John who works for Jesus. Same thing in our writing group, at the convention, or in a pizza parlor with his flock. I admire that in him. Not everyone can pull that off. But when you live what you preach it makes it easy to remember how you have to behave with the group you are with. I still have to remember to curb my tongue and behave better around people who don’t tolerate me every day. And the more I think about it, the more I’d better change my ways so that my friends get the same courtesy that strangers and professional acquaintances get from me.

Are you walking the walk? Are you less cautious around people who know you well? Do you live the life you espouse in your writing? Good questions that I need to work on starting now. How about you?

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