I'm still searching for the spiritual application. So help me out.

I'm taking the week off, staying at home. I've just finished taking a shower, and now I'm sitting in our screened-in porch reading a good Christian book, Confessions of a Pastor, by Craig Groeschel. I've just finished his excellent chapter "I Feel Inadequate," and now I've started the chapter "I Stink at Handling Criticism." As I read, I keep an eye on Jordi, who is out in the grass.

After reading a couple pages, I look up--and no Jordi. He probably went around the side of the house. I stand up, pressing my face to the screen to peer around the corner. Just then a bird flies overhead. And also just then, my head is splattered with something wet but not terribly cold. Bullseye.

Bird poop. Wonderful.

The screen shows six splotches, close together. Direct hit. That bird should train F-117 pilots.

I go inside and wash myself off. And then, already being in a spiritual frame of mind, begin pondering the meaning of it all.

Since I was reading about handling criticism, was God telling me how people blame him for everything? Even an accidental bath from above? On the other hand, if this was an intentional lesson...then God IS to blame.

Or maybe it's the "stink" part of Groeschel's chapter. Criticism stinks, and handling criticism badly stinks. Is that a lesson God would go out of his way to make? Seems pretty shallow to me.

No, it must be something else. Something more than a euphemistic Stuff Happens. I'll continue meditating on this throughout the day.