Bella Goes to Church

I went to church the other day. As you may imagine, I don’t go to church very often, but I was still getting acclimated to island life, and Tom and Shelley didn’t want to leave me alone in the hotel room. Their concern, frankly, had little to do with me. I had been living at Coconuts Hotel (now part of Corona del Mar) for five days awaiting the plumbing problem at the apartment to be resolved, and pets weren’t exactly allowed at Coconuts. In fact, the day we arrived someone else had requested their pet be allowed to stay with them, and they had been denied. As a result, we were placed in a room on the second floor as far away from the rest of the complex and the other pet owner as possible. If you know me, you understand my bark can be somewhat shrill and loud, so the decision was made to take me to church and see what happened.

It had rained very hard the previous two days, and the unpaved back street the church was on looked like a lake with occasional islands of semi-dry land. It was hard going in a golf cart, but we navigated it okay staying reasonably dry and mud-free. When we arrived at The Living Word Church, the greeters opened the doors wide to let us in, then balked. It was exactly the same reaction we have seen when the Phantom of the Opera rips his mask off revealing his horribly disfigured face. “A DOG? IN CHURCH? Whatever shall we do?”

Do I look scary?

No dogs in church was the immediate and seemingly resolute response, but Tom and Shelley began to negotiate. Apparently the greeters thought I would roam the pews attacking the parishioners in a rabid frenzy and cause havoc amongst the faithful. Good grief. I am carried practically everywhere I go. Who has time for a rabid frenzy anyway? How exhausting. Finally common sense prevailed, and I was allowed to sit in Tom’s lap near the door in case of a breakout. Shelley, of course, sat with a group of new friends in the center of the sanctuary. 

The praise and worship music at Living Word Church is a mixture of five singers, a guitar player, and a drummer playing along with video music projected on a screen and played over the amplification system. Like so many churches these days, it is absolutely necessary to play the music as loudly as possible so that surrounding neighborhoods will also have the benefit of the music. I was doing okay with most of it, but the drummer got to me, so I decided to bark along. Whoops. Rushed outside. 

Well, not exactly “rushed outside.” It is the clear responsibility of the head greeter to open the outside door. Apparently there is a certain protocol involved including puzzled looks of “Why is that dog still here?” and “Why are they going outside during the service?” Anyway, out we went after a series of false starts as to who was in charge of physically opening the door. 

Once outside, I wanted to return, of course, so, after a few moments, in again we went. Tom nodded to the head greeter. He frowned slightly. He opened the door. We returned to our near-the-door seat. This procedure reoccurred four times. In the meantime, Shelley had a coughing fit and also went outside, so, of course, I wanted to go out to be with her. That necessitated another interaction with Head Greeter who no longer even tried to wear a happy face. 

Three hours after arrival, we left for lunch at Hurricanes on a dock at the beach. I sampled everything and can honestly say it is a not-to-be-missed experience. The tables are actually on the dock itself, so no one seemed to mind the dog-in-the-lap thing. Not that they should. Try the fresh catch of the day. It’s marvelous.

Belize is a very laid-back place, and the most common expression one hears is “Everything’s good, mon.” That may or may not apply to The Living Word Church.

Y’all come visit us. We’ll do Hurricanes. You’re gonna love Belize!