January 19 – “Cheeseheads, a washtub, hats and some Mennonites”

I had a couple of really nice things shared with me after our worship service yesterday.   It was an unusual service, to start off with.  Among the visitors from Fort Worth and Houston and Dallas, we also had five older ladies who had made the trek down her from Wisconsin to escape the 40 degrees below zero weather they had been having.  They weren’t so impressed with the 40 degrees above zero bone chiller we were complaining about.  Balmy Spring day to them, I guess.  It’s not so unusual for us to have visitors from all over the United States, but there were two funny things about their presence yesterday.  One was the fact that the Green Bay Packers were the ones to knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs last week.  And they were quite proud of their home team– and vocal.  Can’t beat a sweet little 80-year-old lady trash talking football.   

Our computer guy was held up getting here, so we didn’t have the music in the computer yet.  I was walking around greeting people when one of our Seasiders came up to me and made an offer.  His Dad was in town with him, and the offer was for the two of them to play some worship music for us.  He said they knew a few hymns and such that might just get us started.  I knew the son had told me before that he could play, so I jumped at the chance for a father-son team.  I knew the Seasiders would welcome them happily, and they did.  The thing was, when Tom went out to the car to get the guitars, he only came back with one.  I was a bit puzzled until the second trip.  He walked in with a big washtub and a stick with a rope tied to it.  Yep.  His Dad played guitar and Tom accompanied him on the washtub bass.  The teenagers were fascinated, and every time he started up, they stood up to watch him.  It was great. 

So the rest of the service was kind of a typical Seaside one.  We did do a Visual Verse, and there was a lot of audience participation.  Especially in the teaching intro.  The teaching was about the kinds of things that might have gone through Peter’s head as he waited in the courtyard after Jesus had been arrested.  So I brought along several of my hats and asked what I might do wearing a hat like that and what kinds of things I might say.  I had a cowboy hat, a construction helmet, a fireman’s helmet, a motorcycle police officer’s helmet, an Astros cap, and … yep, I couldn’t believe how appropriate this would be to our five little old football-lovin’ lady visitors … my cheesehead hat.  They couldn’t believe it.  Made for a lot of fun to get started, and helped with the intro wearing Peter’s hat to see what it was like to be him.

OK.  Now to the nice things.  Another one of the guests was a couple from Kansas.  He was a family farmer.  And they were Mennonites.  They actually dressed the part, too.  They sat next to Chris during the service, and I saw Chris talking to the wife quite a bit.  After the service the husband came up to me and said, very simply, “We very much enjoyed the worship today.  You have a gift.”  That was pretty much it.  I wasn’t sure what the gift was, but I thanked him for the encouragement.  The only other thing he talked about was how I did the Visual Verses.  He seemed fascinated by that approach.  I found out later that he had expounded a bit more to Chris.  He was impressed with the way even children were welcome into our worship experience.  The gift he was talking about was “How your husband seems to be able to communicate with the children as well as with people as old as us.”  I was thinking more in terms of my gift being the children and old people and all those in between that God draws to the church every week. 

The second great encouragement came indirectly.  It was perhaps the greatest complement any communicator can ever receive.  It seems one of our young girls leaned over during the teaching time and whispered something to her Mom.  Mom told me about it after worship.  Ella’s whispered sentiment? “The more I hear him talk, the more I want to hear him keep talking.”  Wow.  Now, that’s humbling. 

Psalms 150:3-5 says, “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.”

Father, thank you for the unique “strings” we had to help us worship yesterday.  Thank you for the willingness of Tom and his Dad to share their talent with us.  Thank you for sending to us believers from Wisconsin and Kansas and Dallas and Houston.  Shows that you are at work all over the country.  And thank you for Ella to remind us that you are still at work right here.  Amen.