January 16 – “You catch ‘em. He cleans ‘em.”

Last night was Parents Night Out up at the church building. It was a fundraiser for youth camp this summer. We hope to go to Ridgecrest, North Carolina this year. It’s just a change from New Mexico. We went there back in 2002. The road there is a tough one. We drove last time, but this time we are struggling to lease a bus – with drivers. That’s a lot of money these kids are raising. With all the other expenses we have to cover, it amounts to something like $9500. Whew. Well, Parents Night Out meant we had a three hour marathon to get the church cleaned and set up for AA tonight and church tomorrow. I can usually get the floors swept and mopped before Chris finishes cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms. Not so today. In fact, she came and relieved me on mopping so I could change the sign outside. Now it says: “Fishers of Men: You catch ‘em. He cleans ‘em.” I don’t know how many people will “get it,” but I thought it was kind of funny – and appropriate. We got approved to finish up one set of bathrooms in the school building. The fixtures are all paid for, so they will get installed sometime this week. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the computer. I downloaded all the information about camp from their website, and summarized it down to two pages so we could have something to mail to parents Monday. Deposits are due next week, and we don’t have very many in yet. The more times we can get the word out, the better. I changed the profile picture on my Facebook page today. I uploaded several antique pictures of myself. That seemed to be what others were doing. My intention was just to put the one of when I was nine or ten years old. But I started getting all kinds of comments on the one when I was a struggling seminary student and couldn’t afford a haircut. Or a razor. And my hair looked almost red then. Ah, youth. Psalms 103:2-5 says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” Father, I could use some of the energy I had when I was 27. I don’t think I want to mess with all that hair again, though. Amen.