We
took our little charge to school first thing in the morning. It was chilly. We knew it was cold when even Cailyn wore her
light jacket under her heavy coat. I
think it finally maxed out at around 49 degrees amidst lots of fog. Just a stay-inside kind of day.
I
used the opportunity to work on Sunday’s sermon. Oh, and we made a WalMart run, so we did get
some walking in. Chris didn’t park in
the farthest-away slot, though. I guess
she wasn’t too excited about the prospect of traipsing through a fog-encased
parking lot in the cold. As it turned
out, we ran into Mr. Bob from Seaside.
He’s the one who played master of ceremonies for the Body Life service
while we were watching Ezra get dedicated.
He was still on cloud nine. He remembered
more and more about the different things that were shared. And he remarked at how blessed he was to be
the one there to live the excitements with people who gave their hearts to
Jesus and want to follow it up in baptism.
He commented, “That’s what you’re
supposed to be here for, pastor.” I
retorted, “That’s how you get to feel
as the Associate Pastor.” Not exactly
what he expected to hear, but true, nonetheless. Well, true in the sense that you don’t have
to be in “The ministry” to enjoy the blessings of seeing someone get right with
God.
Last
night we enjoyed several rousing hands of Kings in the Corner, Slapjack, and
War (Card games, if you are among the
uninitiated). I was summarily smoked
in all of them.
At
family worship we had a brief discussion on Islam. Cailyn has run into some things at school
that have been confusing to her. Some
questions have come during her studies.
They saw a movie about a young Muslim girl who was shot in the head and
survived. She also has some classmates
who are experimenting with what are obviously their parents’ beliefs and
philosophies. We ended up reaffirming
the importance of Jesus and a personal relationship with him. Good talk.
Chris
stayed in bed for a while as Cailyn went on to sleep. I returned to the den to watch the Baylor vs.
Iowa State basketball game (Baylor ended
up winning a thriller, by the way).
I also mindlessly scrolled through FaceBook. That’s when I saw “It.” Someone recommended using the heads off of
old dolls as … ready for this one? … a nightlight. Just place the head over the bulb and the light
shines through … the eyes. The mouth. Sometimes the nose. All the while emitting a horrifyingly evil
glow throughout the severed cranium. Awful,
just awful. I hurriedly sent a copy of
it to Kel, Josh, and Nathan. Each one
responded with an appropriate meme, indicating their varying levels of terror,
from outright screaming and running to internalized disgust, to one other, slightly
more graphic expression of fear. I
assured them that I would make sure they each had access to the doll Mom has
set aside for them – dressed in the very baby clothes they wore as tykes. Glad I could brighten up your evening, Boys.
Galatians
5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such things there
is no law.”
Father,
thank you for Bob’s exuberance, for Cailyn’s hunger to learn and ask the hard
questions, and for my three boys who still enjoy a good joke. Amen.
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