December 7 – “Happy birthday, Jay!

Happy birthday to my “much older” brother Jay today.  Born on the anniversary of the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and the U.S. entered World War II.  Quite the distinction.  In his honor I mentioned him in the teaching at church yesterday.  The theme of the day was “Peace” in recognition of the second Sunday in Advent (the church year season leading up to Christmas).  The story went something like this:

My mother tells the story, though I certainly don’t remember it, about me as a young, innocent child.  It seems I enjoyed waking up in the morning.  I still do.  There’s just something about knowing that I made it one more day that excites me.  Anyway, she says that as a kid, I enjoyed waking up so much that I wanted everyone else to enjoy it as well.  So I “encouraged” those around me – particularly my older brother who didn’t particularly like mornings – to join me in my early morning revelry.  I would sing, or recite the poems my brother was supposed to be memorizing for school (now that was something he said was quite annoying, but I’m sure I was just trying to be helpful), or more recently in life I would simply brush my teeth (I still don’t understand why Chris says I do that “loudly”).  As far as I was concerned, life was good, and I was going to celebrate it.  But not so much for my older brother.  He would get madder and madder until finally he exploded (to my utter surprise and chagrin, of course).  “Mom!  Make Kelley shut up!  I need some peace and quiet!”

The point was that true Peace is not necessarily the absence of activity or noise.  According to the Bible there’s more to it than that.

So, hey, Big Brother ... thanks for being the source for a perfect sermon illustration.  Have a great birthday!

Philippians 4:6-7 says - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Father, give Jay a really great day today.  Amen.