Have you heard of the preacher who returned for an anniversary celebration at the church where he had been the pastor twenty years before? He was greeted by one woman and immediately asked her about her husband. “And how is Bill?”

“Oh,” she said, misty-voiced, “Bill is in heaven.”

“In heaven? I’m sorry!” but that didn’t sound right. “I mean —I’m surprised!” — but that was no better. “I mean — I’m happy!”

Well, that preacher was in a fix, and that’s what I want to talk about today. But to talk about it at a much, much deeper level.

Do you know what it means to be in a fix? It means the same thing as being “between a rock and a hard place”. Now that’s a Mississippi metaphor that is rather descriptive of many of life’s dilemmas. Other might say the same thing in the picture phrase, “bet…