In this chapter we see Nadia so wrapped up with Rally Day that she is unaware of how the Spirit had healed her hurting back

"A quaint tradition in Lutheran churches, Rally Day is an effort to get all the families together after the end of the summer to celebrate the beginning of a new year of Sunday school." (Page 100)

"Having a Rally Day event, complete with a cotton candy machine at a church without children, was just the sort of random thing that started getting House for All Sinners and Saints noticed by the ELCA." (Page 100)

There was:

• A cotton candy machine

• Six dozen burgers and buns with all the fixings

• An industrial-size bag of Doritos

• A couple of cases of soda

And Nadia could barely stand up

Twenty six people show up

Nobody donates money for the food

Nadia was pissed

"It sounds crazy, and if someone told me this story I'd assume they were lying or delusional. As Stuart's big drag queen hands lovingly rubbed my lower back and he sweetly asked God to heal me, the muscles in my back went from being a fist to an open hand. The spasms released." (Page 103)

"But then at two a.m. I was startled awake with what can only be described as a bitch slap from the Holy Spirit. My eyes sprang open and out loud I said, "Oh wow." The force of the realization hit me: My back didn't hurt. It hadn't hurt after they prayed for me and it didn't hurt now as I laid in my bed, startled awake." (Page 104)

Nadia also recalls all of the unexpected outcomes that had occurred during that Rally Day.

"I was reminded again of the loaves and fishes. 'What do we have?' they asked. 'We have nothing. Nothing but a few loaves and a couple of fish.' And they said this as though it were a bad thing. The disciples' mistake was also my mistake: They forgot that they have a God who created the universe out of 'nothing,' that can put flesh on dry bones 'nothing,' that can put life in a dusty womb 'nothing.' I mean, let's face it, 'nothing' is God's favorite material to work with." (Page 104)

"People at my table didn't ask me questions about how they could do HFASS-type stuff at their churches. Instead, they told their own failure stories. With heart and humor I was regaled with tales of badly handled firings and church secretaries with drinking problems and Vacation Bible School nepotism, and I realized that sometimes the best thing we can do for each other is talk honestly about being wrong." (Page 107)