July 17 – “The vines”

VBS Final Day:  The odds-on favorite activity of the day was making your way through the maze of vines that mysteriously grew in the main room while the kids were having a snack.  Lauren set up eight chairs in two rows and strung yarn back and forth between them.  The kids then had the chance, one at a time, to make their way through the maze of string as if they were deep in a jungle crawling and stepping through a mass of wild vines.  They each had their own style for conquering the maze.  One or two of the littlest ones got stuck, completely wrapped up in the vines to the extent that all they could do was lift their up arms and be rescued by an adult.  Reminded me of the way we sometimes get so twisted up in our circumstances that we can’t go forward and we can’t go back either.  We are totally frustrated.  That’s when we need to follow the example of those little guys.  Lift up our arms to Jesus and trust him to get us through.  One girl said, “I saw ‘Night at the Museum.’  I know how to do this.”  She stepped high, then crawled low, over and under until she made her way through.  Walking through difficult days in life is made a lot easier when you have read the instruction manual (The Bible) or when you have someone you can look to for help who has already been there.  The boys tended to go the crawling route, like soldiers making their way through a battlefield, keeping their heads down the whole way, sure of themselves and their techniques.  Proper training gives you confidence in accomplishing any task you take on.  That’s what Christian discipleship is all about.  My favorite approach, and by far the most practical, was made by a little girl who couldn’t have been more than three years old.  She stepped high all right – high enough to find the nearest vine so she could stomp it into the ground.  If it was too high to step on, she grabbed it and pulled it over her head.  Made it through in record time and in the grand scheme of things, prepared the path for the person behind her, though I’m not sure that’s what she was thinking about at the time.  There’s an obvious application to that one as well.  Every move we make as believers has an impact on those around us - family, friends, even those we don’t know.  Are we going to blaze a trail for them - make it easier for them?  Or will we think only of ourselves and getting through life as quickly and as easily as we can?

It’s amazing what you can get out of the goofy games and activities at Vacation Bible School, isn’t it?  Here’s one final shout-out to Lauren and her team from Round Rock.  These guys took a VBS music CD, a list of Bible stories, and two little girls who had attended another VBS in their area, and they put together a week of fun and learning for the kids in Jamaica Beach.  Thank you, many times over, for following God in your life. May he honor your commitment and bless you in the future.

Psalms 37:39 says, “The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

Father, thank you for VBS this year.  And thank you for being there to rescue us from those annoying vines that keep growing up around us.  Amen.

July 16 – “A what?”

VBS Day Three: We had 22 kids yesterday.  Several brand new attendees.  And with that many kids came some new … challenges.  As they all began to get familiar with the songs and with each other, it became apparent that the time had come for going a little wild and crazy during the singing segment.  With the motions that accompany the songs, it is pretty much like dancing anyway, so it was but a short trip to leaping and frolicking and running around in uncontrolled circles – abandoning themselves to the fun/chaos of the moment.  Sure looked like fun to me.  And what participation I managed to involve myself in was indeed quite fun.  I hate it when pain prevents me from being childlike.  That’s the worst part of this whole rheumatoid arthritis/spinal stenosis/bulging disk ordeal. It didn’t take long for Lauren to step in and regain absolute control over the group, though.  And she did it with a whisper, not a whistle.  Amazing. 

My “favorite kid moment” I heard from my office as I worked on Sunday’s Sermon.  From what I could gather, they were in craft time working on individual paintings of the fiery furnace of Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego.  The idea seemed to be for the kids to first use crayons to draw the base of the picture.  Then they were to go over the top with those water based paints.  Wherever there was crayon, the paint wouldn’t stick.  Kind of like decorating Easter eggs.  As the teacher explained the process to the younger kids, I heard her say, “You will get a really cool water color effect.”  To which one of the kids immediately replied, “A what?  What’s that?”  How do you explain the nuances of water color effect to a six-year-old?  Gotta give that teacher credit, though.  She managed to communicate the concept, and the pictures were amazing. 

Psalms 37:37 says, “Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.”

Father, thank you for questioning minds and creative concepts.  Even among six-year-olds.  Amen.

July 15 – “Brave”

VBS Day One highlight: A Mom came to drop off her children.  She commented, “We brought kids to Vacation Bible School here back when Anna was leading it.  Now those kids have all grown up and have kids of their own.  Now we are here with our second batch.”  She proceeded to register three kids.  It’s great to be a pastor in a small town. 

VBS Day Two highlight: The theme of the week is “Off the Map.”  The idea is to make Jesus your guide in all your decisions and in life in general.  The rooms are decorated like a jungle, and there are blow-up figures of animals everywhere.  The craft for the day was an interesting one.  The kids were seated at tables and the leader announced that they would be making maps, certainly a valid project for the “Off the Map” theme.  But then she walked around and squirted shaving cream in front of each one.  Lots of shaving cream.  Globs and globs of shaving cream.  She encouraged the kids to have fun.  What kid needs more encouragement than that when faced with a massive handful of white goop?  They made mountains.  They saw how much they could pick up before it splatted back down to the table.  They even did a fairly decent job of keeping it off their faces (that was one of the rules – faces and each other).  Not so much clothes, though.  But hey, it was just soap, right?  The real sight came when Lauren added squirts of tempera paint to the mix.  The swirls then took on a whole new dimension.  And finally she brought in the paper for their maps.  The kids swirled across the paper for a bit, and then headed off to get cleaned up.  Workers were then instructed to carefully wipe the excess cream off of the papers and put each child’s name on the back and let them dry.  Amazingly enough, when went back to look at them later, they looked like an HGTV kitchen countertop with swirls of color in them.  The kids later came back and write the day’s Bible verse on them.  Gotta say, I have never seen that one before.  I wasn’t the only one whose comment was, “Brave.”

Isaiah 1:18  says, “’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord.  ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”

Father, thank you for the creativity of the workers and the children this week.  Great reflection of what you showed when you created them in the first place.  Amen.

July 14 – “A visit to heaven”

Cailyn was waxing nostalgic yesterday before we left for Vacation Bible School.  She said she missed her Grandpa.  He’s the one who just died last week.  But before I could even offer some words of encouragement she asked, “DadDad, do people keep on getting older in heaven?”  I assured her that with the new body we receive, getting older didn’t even matter in heaven.  I told her that her Grandpa could hang out with MeeMaw now if he wanted to.  She was concerned that he wouldn’t know who she was, but we decided that he could sure go meet her and they could “talk about stuff together.”

She pondered for a few minutes, then offered one of her own: “You know what, DadDad?  Up in heaven people can talk any language they want.”  Not wanting to break the train of thought that had her dwelling in such lofty heights, I simply replied, “Really?”  And in a kind of dreamy, far-off, sing-song-y voice that carries out each syllable for an extra second or two, she noted, “Yes.  You know.  Like English, and sign language, and …”  The rest just drifted away with the thought.  And then she was on to something else.  But thank you, Cailyn for that quick little visit to heaven.

Day one of VBS went well.  We had 17 children plus the nine or so adult workers.  The kids seemed to have a great time with the singing and crafts and story time and games.  My favorite interaction of the day came with little two year old William.  He came up to me numerous times throughout the morning, twirled around in his best two-year-old rendition of a ballet spin, and declared, “We go off the map.”  Remember, the theme of VBS is Off the Map.  I think maybe William got it.

John 1:12-13 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

Father, teach the little children more about love and trust and especially about you.  Amen.

July 13 – “VBS 2015”

Chris and I drove back out to the church yesterday afternoon to meet the Vacation Bible School team from Round Rock, Texas.  They are leading our VBS for us this week.  Now it’s not like they have an entire youth group with them.  Three ladies and their ten little children between them (The oldest is around nine or ten.  The youngest was an infant) have worked really hard to put together decorations and plan out activities for the week. 

We received the call that they had arrived around 5:30, so we left the house right away.  Meanwhile they had completely unloaded their cars and by the time we arrived were pulling out decorations.  No messing around with this crew.  We got the doors unlocked and they immediately set to work on set up for VBS Day One.  Even before they took luggage up to their room.  That’s impressive.  Chris and I stacked up all the pews (We should have done that one after church when we had some help.  Chris even mentioned it, but we weren’t sure what setup they would want, so I voted to wait.  And I am paying for it today with some extra soreness).  They had they whole place ready to go in less than an hour.  Found out later why the kids were so cooperative.  They had been promised a quick trip to the beach after everything was set up.  And they were amazing helpers.  They hung streamers and put posters on the wall and set tables.  Apparently they had all been to two or three Bible Schools already this summer, so they were experienced.  Even the little brother (about two) was toddling around saying, “We play Off the map, Mommy?”  “Off the Map” is the theme of the VBS this year. 

Once we got them all settled into the Retreat Center Chris and I made a WalMart run to get some fruit for today’s snacks.  Bananas and grapes and apples and Mini Nilla Wafers.  I tried for a few unhealthy things as well, but they didn’t go over.  I wanted to get Double Stuffed Oreos and Caramel dip.  I might have won out on the dip, but we couldn’t find any. 

So Cailyn is already here and wanting some breakfast, so I better go pop some Eggos into the toaster.  VBS 2015 … here we come.

Luke 18:16-17 says, “But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’”

Father, send your Spirit down to watch over the children this week.  Give the workers energy.  Touch some lives.  Amen.

July 12 – “An unexpected blatteria diversion”

Project report … Vaughan garage.  Saturday. 

We attacked the garage yet again yesterday.  This time the goal was to get some shelves put up near the ceiling so we could eliminate the massive amount of clutter that had accumulated over the years without actually throwing too much away.  As I have said before, Chris has an amazing ability to envision a finished product out of a pile of what appears to the naked eye to be … well, junk. 

Now, as it usually happens with garages, before we could do anything we had to pull everything out.  Well, not everything all at once.  We started on the side of the room where the two rows of shelving would be.  And that proved to be a task in itself.  A bed frame for a bunk bed damaged by Hurricane Ike, numerous boxes, and a stack of old table extenders.  You know, those slats of wood that make your dining room table giant-sized for holiday meals.  These were also damaged by the storm, and the veneer was peeling badly.  And as I got the first tow outside and set them down, I discovered Babyland General Hospital, Pediatric Division … for roaches.  Roaches of all sizes leapt from behind that veneer.  A few of the hospital administrators - large, fat, juicy ones - made a feeble attempt to impede my progress, but sadly - for them – to no avail.  But there were also thousands of tiny versions that were unleashed into the cruel world well before their time.  And their sheer numbers, as well as their tiny stature, made it impossible for me to Godzilla them all.  I did my best, but when they are so small that they can hide in the tread of your shoe, what can a gigantic monster do?

We did get that first set of shelves hung and loaded … after a trip to Nathan’s for the impact drill screwdriver.  At least we found the studs this time.  We also managed to hang one of those contraptions for storing garden tools like a hoe and a rake.  Or in our case, three shovels, two rakes, a saw, a flounder gig and a home-made deep sea fishing gig.  We put our old milk crates on the first piece of wood and the second shelf on top of them.  And on that very top shelf we put stuff that we will probably never use.  Old vases.  A giant tea dispenser.  A box of – yep, I’m serious – pine cones.  Into the milk crates went the sleeping bags that we use for cousins’ sleepovers.  It all worked out well.  At least it was somewhere near the vision in Chris’ head. 

The shelves on the other side of the room were a bit easier to hang, but of course they came out off-line.  Had to add a piece of wood under one side to level them out.  We used some more milk crates to create a second shelf.  That group was located low enough that we could fit some of our taller storage bins on the very top. Did some adjusting so we would have a place for the fishing poles I use on a somewhat regular basis.  Still need one of those pole holders, but that’s a trip to Academy for another day. 

Getting everything back into the garage was the challenge of the decade.  I finally opened up the attic and crammed some stuff into the small remaining space up there.  Don’t forget to check that attic after we die, my Sons.  There are treasures up there you know not of. 

Job 38:36 says, “Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?”

Father, open up some hearts at church today.  Amen.

July 11 – “More suited”

We had out grandkid charges for the night after home group.  The boys all slept on the floor in the den.  Noa made her way (with Nana’s help and a little rocking) to her pak-n-play in the blue bedroom.  Yesterday Micah was the first one up again, so he and I made the donut run.  We had to keep our energy level high, because it was yard work day.

I started out mowing.  Sadly, our old lawn mower once again remembered how old and tired it actually was, and it started sputtering out badly.  It did make one comeback attempt – enough to make me add a bit of gas and hope to finish.  Too little too late.  The excitement was gone.  I ended up cranking up the mower our neighbor gave me when he moved.  That one worked like a charm.  I think he may have put a turbo charged engine in the thing.

Micah hung around with me outside much of the time I was mowing.  When I switched to the weedeater, he stepped right in and manipulated the cord for me.  Really helped the process for me.  I even let him try his hand at it in the back yard.  He got really good at clearing those pesky sprouts from between the cracks in the concrete.  And he did well edging in the big area.  Had a bit of trouble, though, when he had to pick up the machine to edge around the hot tub area.  It just got too heavy for him.  That’s about the time he decided, “When we move into our new house, I think Jachin is more suited for yard work than I am.  I think I’ll let him do the mowing and stuff.” 

Now Chris had a great idea at one point.  Micah swept the grass on the sidewalk in the front yard into a pile.  Then she enlisted Josiah to scoop up the piles and carry them to the trash can.  Even Noa got into the act.  She held the dust pan for the boys.  Oh, and what about the oldest brother?  Jachin was inside reading a book.  But he did his part, too.  The times Chris worked with just Micah and Josiah he was the babysitter for Noa.  We gave each of them some money commensurate with their respective contribution to the effort.  That’s a high class way of saying Micah got the most, then Josiah, then Jachin.  Noa got some, too, but she was asleep when paychecks were handed out, so her Mommy is responsible to see that her cut finds its way into the piggy bank.  With all that help I had plenty of time to join Noa for an afternoon nap before the wedding rehearsal I had to attend last night. 

Isaiah 40:22 says, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.  He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”

Father, thank you for all that help I had yesterday.  And thanks for Chris’ ability to come up with a way for them all to be involved on their own levels.  Amen.