April 8 – “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis”

We seem to be holding strong attendance-wise at Seaside.  Even with the Iron Man Triathalon blocking off streets and causing major traffic tie-ups, we still had 48 people attending.  We had a few folks from out of town, but even some new locals gave us a try.  That’s always encouraging. 

I particularly enjoyed doing the Kids’ Sermon yesterday.  Cailyn was there, so Kiara had a buddy to play with and to join her at the front for the mini-teaching.  There were five or six other kids there as well, but they were being shy and hanging close to moms and dads.  They eventually came up to the drawer of secrets to get a gift, though.  And we had a first in that department.  One little boy grabbed one of the tithe training banks and was very excited to have it.  Gotta be a lesson there on being excited about stewardship. 

The teaching was on what to do when you don’t know the answer to something.  I started out by asking “What do you know about transubstantiation?”  The two gorgeous little four-year-old girls just looked up at me with blank stares.  I couldn’t even get any takers from the rest of the crowd to wade in on that one.  So I moved on to:

“What is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis?”  Still no response from the girls.  I couldn’t even pronounce it myself, so I went ahead and gave the answer to this one.  It’s currently the longest word that is in a major dictionary.  Some kind of lung disease.  The next question was, “What do you do when you don’t know the answer to something?”  I thought surely one of them would suggest asking Mommy or Daddy at least.  But still I got the stares.  Cailyn finally climbed up on my stool to be closer to the action, and Kiara stood ever closer to my leg, but all I got was an overemphasized shrug of the shoulders and “I don’t know?”  Not exactly the answer I had hoped for, but it still kept the gate open for me to fill in all the blanks.  Ask someone you trust.  Look it up in a source that is reputable.  (No, I didn’t use that word with the kids.  It’s just the most accurate one to explain the point). 

That’s what the two disciples of John the Baptist did when he pointed out Jesus to them as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Because they trusted John and knew Scripture, they followed Jesus.  Good example for us when it comes to questions of faith and morality.  Who do you trust?  What does he say?  How does it match up with the most reputable (there’s that word again) source you can find?  Of course that source would be the Bible from my perspective.  Certainly better than Wikipedia, but don’t get me started on that one.  I’ll just ask this: Which do you think is more trustworthy: the Bible, which has been around for thousands of years through many different languages and has consistently come forth with the same message, or Wikipedia, which anyone can change at any time with a simple touch of the keyboard? 

Psalms 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

Father, I thank you for the trustworthy people you placed in my life over the years.  Sometimes it’s just easier to hear truth from somebody with a heart and a hug.  Amen.