December 18 – “Signed in blood”

Last night was one of those allergy-inflicted can’t-breathe kind of nights for me.  I finally switched to the couch so Chris could at least get her few winks between dealing with Mom through the night.  And then Mom got up at around six and insisted she was ready for something to eat.  When we got her set up at the table, Chris went back to bed and I went on duty, so to speak.  Ah, the life of caring for an elderly parent. 

Chris did get out of the house for a few hours yesterday, though.  I hung out with Mom while she did some shopping.  Actually Mom slept on the couch most of the time Chris was gone.  I began researching and preparing for the teaching and the service for next Sunday.  The theme is love, so I figure I can find lots of data on that.  The thing I’m most excited about is that Kelly, one of our college students (she is a junior at Baylor), is going to share some about how her idea of love has changed over the years.   Wish I had known about that before I responded to a request from the religion editor of our local newspaper.  He wanted to know what I planned to preach on this Sunday so he could include a quote in his article.  Maybe I can email him with an update and get her name in the paper.

I also worked on the carving I’m doing for Chris’s Christmas present this year.  I’m down to mostly detail work, but I still managed to inflict at least three cuts on my weary fingers.  Happens every year.  In fact it’s become part of the process.  It’s like my signature.  Transferring some of my DNA to the object so it can always be tracked in the future.  There’s probably some kind of idea in there that will really makes sense for safety control people in the future.  It will probably be quite a lucrative business in fact.  And as usual, I’ll never see any of the fruits of that idea.  But think of it.  Rub a little of your blood on an object that you want to “sign,” maybe just in a tiny little crack or crevice.  Then register your DNA in a database.  If the object ever gets lost or stolen and subsequently recovered, the CSI guys will check for DNA and return it to you.  Kind of sheds new light on the old pirate idea, “signed in blood.”  Go for it, you scientist types.

Psalms 47:8 says, “God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.”

Father, thank you for the ultimate Jesus-blood signature you place on us when we come to you.  Amen.