May 10 – “Lost World Revisited”

Mother's Day.  I think a lot of people spent the day with their mom today.  I know we didn't have very many in worship.  At least we didn't until a family of about fifteen walked in around eleven o'clock (we start around 10:10 usually).  They seemed to enjoy the singing, though.  We did hear some interesting sounds from the nursery.  It was not the occasional cry for mom that we sometimes hear.  This was quite different.  More of a growl.  I found out from Chris later that one of the kids got a new book today.  On dinosaurs.  That meant every so often he became a dinosaur.  That also meant he had to burst forth with his best dinosaur roar.  The problem was, the first time he belted out, he scared one of the other little guys, which set him to crying.  Then when Chris finally got him settled down, it was time for the dinosaur to roar again, which set the other guy to crying again.  The noise we were hearing was the combined talents of the dinosaur and the frightened "victim."  We should have taped it and sold it as a sound track for a Lost World Revisited movie or something.   We did get to baptize a Mom / Grandmother today.  Her daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons were here to cheer her on.  One of the grandsons wanted to join us in the water, but his mom told him he could only go out as far as keeping his pants dry would let him.  When we got far enough out into the water, we turned and faced the beach.  I told her to be sure and bend her knees when I gave the word.  She did.  But they didn't stay bent.  She apparently straightened them back out.  She went under just as a wave crashed, which the easy way top baptize – let God do it.  But instead of coming straight back up when I lifted her head, she scooted away from me toward the shore.  I hastily shifted my feet and tried again, but she scooted some more.  All the while she still had her head under the water.  I finally located her feet and planted mine near hers to hold her still.  She was excited and didn't really even realize what had happened.  But now I have a great fish story about the one that almost got away!   We went to Kel and Christina's tonight for a Mother's Day supper.  Nathan and April and Cailyn came, too.  Great food.  Really great chocolate pie for dessert.  We're invited to come back tomorrow for another piece of pie.  There's got to be some reason we need to stop by.  Chris got some great gifts.  The boys gave her three bags full of Little Golden Books to begin to replace the huge collection she had before the storm.  Nathan and April gave her one of those evil demon devil weed plants that no one in their right mind knows how to spell, much less ought to have.  Let's see how good spell check is: bouganvilla. OK.  I got an underline on that attempt.  All right, I checked it out.  It should be bougainvillea.  However you want to spell it, the plant has huge thorns that make a rose bush look like cotton candy.  And it was in a hanging pot, so Chris wants to put it on the front porch – right where it can attack people as they enter our newly refurbished house.  And the craziest part of the whole thing is – she loves it.  Take this as a warning out there when you come to visit us.  OK.  I admit the flowers are really pretty.  But sin can appear pretty, too.  Beware the bougainvillea.   1 Peter 5:8-9 says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  Father, thanks for my Mom.  And for my wife.  And thanks for the Moms you have entrusted to my grandkids (and to those grandkids' Dads!).  Amen.