August 30 – “Even a Chinese …”

This morning at church we focused on Communion – the Lord's Supper kind as well as the fellowship kind.  I put a table in the center of the room, and after the teaching, I carried the bread and juice to the table to symbolize God's presence being in the midst of his people.  Then they had to come to the table to show we have to receive God's presence in our life.  It went pretty well.  After church a lady who obviously had an Oriental heritage asked for the name and address of the church and a phone number.  She just wanted to go to a marriage conference we are pushing.  But she bubbled all over about how she liked the service.  She told me my teaching made it possible for "even a Chinese person to understand."  That was incredibly encouraging.   This afternoon we went to a birthday party for a six-year-old.  It was at a park, but we sat under an awning and it was just off the beach, so it was actually pretty cool.  We haven't seen these folks in awhile, so it was good to be there.  The hot dog was OK, too.   Our little tree named Nutchez still looks bad.  Chris has gone into super-TLC mode, though.  She will do whatever is possible now to save it.  I don't know what all that will be, but she will find out.   Fishing would have been nice today.  The water was flat as a lake, and the bait were working pretty close to shore.   Chris' Mom called this afternoon.  She fell again in the bathroom.  Now she has a big goose egg on her head and a scrape on her arm to go along with her other problems.  Chris goes back Wednesday for an appointment she has Thursday morning.    Tomorrow will be a huge work day for the still – interim headmaster of Seaside Christian Academy.  School starts in a week, and we need a math teacher and an English teacher for high school.  We have a few leads on English, and we got one lead on a math teacher today.  I'm scheduled to meet with three people tomorrow to sign up their kids or pay tuition or sign their teaching agreement.  The teachers are also supposed to be there to begin their planning sessions.  I have to gather together the curriculum for each student and determine class schedules and times.  I have to call the volunteer PE teacher, but I did talk to her husband today, so maybe she'll call me.   I need to get the Bible curriculum to that teacher as well.    So much for less stress.  That was one of the things Chris and I discovered on the arthritis website.  I'm supposed to avoid stress.  My neurologist told me that too.  So did my wife and my mother.  Maybe someday I'll have time to pay attention to them.   1 Peter 5:6-7 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."   Father, there it is.  Humble.  Cast your anxiety.  Help me do that.  Amen.