January 4 – “Do it again”

Sunday.  Church.  I have looked forward to Sundays ever since the storm.  To be honest, it was because I never knew what to expect.  There could be five people or twenty-five.  Still way down from the sixty or seventy before the storm.  But Tim was back.  Eric and Beth were, too.  And Andy.  Today we took down all the Christmas decorations.   Lanny, Chris and I started taking down the tree around 9:15.  By 9:50 we decided to wait until after church for the rest.  At that point there were six of us.  By the time we got started there were a few more.  By the time the service ended we had a pretty good crowd.  All in all it was a pretty typical Seaside Sunday.   After we set up for school, we finished up with the decorations.  The artificial garland crowning the room was easy to get down, but it left a mess.  It was almost as bad as having the real stuff.  After sweeping several big piles, Chris made the comment that we'd probably be sweeping this stuff up all year.  Not wanting to pass up a perfect "spiritualizing moment," I piped up, "Well, every time you do you can remember that Christ was born on Christmas."  Not to be out done, Lanny quipped, "Yeah, and he came to clean the world of its sin."  Now, how is that for church staff banter?   This evening we went to Kel and Christina's to see some of her family that we also know.  As usually happens when that crowd gets together, there was a lot of chaos.  I got a kick out of some of Micah's antics.  For a while he was dressed to the hilt in a Batman costume – that was about three sizes too big.   Then one of his aunts would hold him high above his head and he would giggle uncontrollably and squeal, "Do it again!"  His other aunt wanted equal time, so she cupped her hands tightly together and said, "Micah, open this box."  He would pull apart her fingers and she would tickle him.  He screamed and breathlessly said, "Do it again."  Later on he and I were sitting together in the same chair.  We would pretend to fall asleep, then jump up and scream, "Wake up, wake up!"  He would laugh and shout, "Do it again."   "Do it again."  That's what Elijah said in 1 Kings 18:34 to the people on Mt Carmel after the prophets of Baal failed to get him to burn their sacrifice.  Elijah had the people pour water on his altar.  Then do it again.  Then do it again, a third time.  And then God showed his power by sending fire to consume the water as well as the sacrifice.  I kind of think God was showing his power tonight, too.  Only this time it came in the laughter of a two-year-old.    Father, do it again.  Amen.