Quickly I opened the Bible I had borrowed from the hotel. The sister next to me stared, recognizing that my Bible was generic. I smiled, then cut my eyes, thinking to myself, don’t hate on my Bible just ’cause your pastor called me out.

“Today’s subject will be the lust of the flesh.”

Suddenly the church became dead silent. Fans stopped waving, hands stopped clapping. Even the amen corner ran out of amens. The sister next to me who was hating lifted up her index finger and tipped out the back of the church. This was obviously a topic that was hitting way too close to home for most of the members.

“Come on now, y’all, don’t get quiet on me. Just a minute ago when the music was playing and the choir was singing, it was like Super Bowl Sunday up in here. Now, it’s like somebody ran over your dog. I said, today we will be talking about the lust of the flesh. Turn to your neighbor and say ‘lust.’ Say it again, ‘lust.’” The synchronized responses nearly shook the room. “Now, turn to another neighbor and say, ‘mylust.’ One more time, ‘mylust.’” The congregation once again found his words amusing. “See, you got to make lust personal. That’s the problem with most of us. The only time we make lust personal is when we’re in the act of being lustful, and once we’ve acted upon our lust, we find every excuse in the world to make lust like a distant cousin at a family reunion that you only see once a year, whose name you can never remember. Turn to that same neighbor, look him in the eyes and say it again—‘mylust.’ All right, now turn to the last neighbor and say ‘of the flesh.’ If I’m driving down your street, don’t say a word, just tap on the horn and say honkety honk honk!” Again the congregation was amused as, in his own special way, Curtis knew exactly how to loosen the crowd, and then pounce on them with a lesson.

“How many of you know that lust of the flesh is only a manifestation of loneliness? I once heard a songwriter say, ‘Do me wrong, do me right, tell me lies, but hold me tight—just don’t let me be lonely tonight.’Come on, now. Y’all know the record. It was the Isley Brothers, 1973, the Three Plus Three album. We weren’t saved all our lives, amen?

“Lust is a demon. And it ain’t no small demon. It’s a great big ole Jurassic Park–sized, monkey-on-your-

back demon. Lust will make you stay longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you were willing to pay.” The laughter quickly turned into moans and groans as Curtis hit a little too close to home.