May 15 – “First Letter/One Clue”

T minus two and a half days and counting. 

Cailyn and I created a new game yesterday.  It was called the First Letter/One Clue Game.  While we were killing time waiting for time to leave for school (she was already dressed, had breakfast, teeth brushed, hair brushed.  Field trip day does that that to a person, especially when Mommy was going to get to go for “the first time ever.  Daddy goes sometimes, but Mommy never goes and today she’s going.”), we took turns guessing what object the other one had in his hands.  It had to be something you could hide behind your back.  Then you gave the first letter of what it was and one clue about it.  For example, a pen would be long and skinny and starts with a “P.”  Simple enough, right? 

The first few rounds I kept guessing things like elephant and rhinoceros and giraffe.  None of those were ever correct.  But just think how much fun that would have been if they were.  I finally got magazine right, after only five or six tries.  Hey, there are a lot of possibilities there: milk, mop, mug, muppet.  She finally stumped me, though.  Her clue was “It’s black and white.”  It started with the letter “B.”  I tried everything.  “Boy” (accompanied by a stern admonition: “You better not have a boy hidden back there or I’ll tell your Daddy”).  “Buffalo.”  “Box.”  I exhausted the entire range of my vocabulary.  I honestly could think of nothing in my office that started with a “B” that was black and white. 

She finally couldn’t stand my ignorance any longer.  The creature emerged from behind her back.  It was a small stuffed animal from my stash of stuffed sacrificial creatures (lambs, a ram, a bird, a bull, a starfish, a rat.  OK, so they are not all approved sacrificial animals).   But this was a goat.  My consternation must have been evident, because Cailyn looked at me with pity in her eyes, patted me on the leg, and said, “It’s a Billy goat, DadDad.”  Of course it is. 

Leviticus 16:10 says, “But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.”

Father, thank you for making that whole scapegoat thing unnecessary through Jesus.  Amen.