Thursday, June 29, 2006
"Where's God?"
A true story from last night at Vacation Bible School:
It was a good night. The kids had fun, and enjoyed singing.
At the end of the evening, I was taking down the laptop computer
we use to project the lyrics onto a big screen. One of the VBS workers,
Lin, came up to me. She said that during the evening one of the little girls
in her class would ask from time to time, "Where's God?"
Lin would explain that God is everywhere.........at the same time..........
no matter where we go. Finally the little girl pointed to the front of the
stage area where I stand to sing with the kids. "No, I mean him (referring to me)...
God!"
I was speechless.
How do you respond to something like that?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
I previously wrote concerning the Vacation Bible School currently taking place at my church this week, and saying that I would blog about it. So here it is.
Our theme is "Set Sail! Spread the Good News!" A one-week program, 90 minutes each evening Monday-Friday. Around 25 children have been attending so far. My job is to sing with the kids and teach the songs, as well as the opening exercise which includes a brief skit related to the lesson for the evening.
File this under "children are a treasure from the Lord": There is a young girl named Emily who is in VBS this year. This is her second one; she came last year when she was 4. Our age group is 4 years old through completion of sixth grade. Emily is absolutely adorable, just a beautiful little girl. She is also a bundle of energy. Last night, after the last song was sung and it was time to go home, the children filed out of our auditorium. I was there gathering my belongings when, suddenly, here comes Emily! She runs down the aisle and literally runs right into me for a big hug. I gave her a hug and talked to her a bit, then she was off running again. A few minutes later, with me still in the auditorium, here comes Emily again! This time, she stops about two feet away from me and just smiles the biggest smile. I take a step toward her, and she hugs me again. We walk out of the auditorium and she goes with our piano player, who is bringing her to VBS.
This may seem like it is not noteworthy, but as a 41-year-old man who is not a father, what Emily did....made me feel good, to be honest. IE and I cannot have children "the old-fashioned way," and in our current financial situation, adoption is too expensive. My heart longs to be a daddy. When a child feels safe enough to come up to you for a hug, especially when you are not part of their family, that is the most sacred trust that I can think of, outside the bonds of marriage. I simply cannot understand how anyone could hurt, harm, or abuse these precious children.
IE, my dear wife, visited the doctor yesterday. She had been experiencing leg pain for several days. It seems that she has a torn ligament, and a superficial blood clot, behind her right knee. She is off work at least today and tomorrow, and out of VBS as well for those two days. She was helping with crafts. She must wear a large knee brace, and alternate the use of ice and heat on the leg. That's what they told her. Said to come back in a month unless it gets worse. She saw a physician's assistant who is a member of our church, so I am trusting his instructions............for now. :-)
With July 4th on a Tuesday this year, the plant where I work is closing on Monday as well. There is a possibility that I will be called upon to work Monday at one of the other plants in our company; there are 3. I hope I can get Monday off; I could sure use 4 consecutive days off.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
Our theme is "Set Sail! Spread the Good News!" A one-week program, 90 minutes each evening Monday-Friday. Around 25 children have been attending so far. My job is to sing with the kids and teach the songs, as well as the opening exercise which includes a brief skit related to the lesson for the evening.
File this under "children are a treasure from the Lord": There is a young girl named Emily who is in VBS this year. This is her second one; she came last year when she was 4. Our age group is 4 years old through completion of sixth grade. Emily is absolutely adorable, just a beautiful little girl. She is also a bundle of energy. Last night, after the last song was sung and it was time to go home, the children filed out of our auditorium. I was there gathering my belongings when, suddenly, here comes Emily! She runs down the aisle and literally runs right into me for a big hug. I gave her a hug and talked to her a bit, then she was off running again. A few minutes later, with me still in the auditorium, here comes Emily again! This time, she stops about two feet away from me and just smiles the biggest smile. I take a step toward her, and she hugs me again. We walk out of the auditorium and she goes with our piano player, who is bringing her to VBS.
This may seem like it is not noteworthy, but as a 41-year-old man who is not a father, what Emily did....made me feel good, to be honest. IE and I cannot have children "the old-fashioned way," and in our current financial situation, adoption is too expensive. My heart longs to be a daddy. When a child feels safe enough to come up to you for a hug, especially when you are not part of their family, that is the most sacred trust that I can think of, outside the bonds of marriage. I simply cannot understand how anyone could hurt, harm, or abuse these precious children.
IE, my dear wife, visited the doctor yesterday. She had been experiencing leg pain for several days. It seems that she has a torn ligament, and a superficial blood clot, behind her right knee. She is off work at least today and tomorrow, and out of VBS as well for those two days. She was helping with crafts. She must wear a large knee brace, and alternate the use of ice and heat on the leg. That's what they told her. Said to come back in a month unless it gets worse. She saw a physician's assistant who is a member of our church, so I am trusting his instructions............for now. :-)
With July 4th on a Tuesday this year, the plant where I work is closing on Monday as well. There is a possibility that I will be called upon to work Monday at one of the other plants in our company; there are 3. I hope I can get Monday off; I could sure use 4 consecutive days off.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
Friday, June 23, 2006
There are times when other people just frustrate you to no end. Such is the case today. I work in a factory; specifically a plant which manufactures interiors for various vehicles. The materials manager is in a snit today because he was given some parts that he declared definitively were damaged by the freight delivery company. In my role as receiving quality auditor, I check to make sure that the parts are good to use. The manager sent an email to me AND my supervisor with his charges, asking what can be done to ensure that this does not happen again. Well, mr. manager, there is NO CONCLUSIVE PROOF that the damage was the fault of the freight company and that I simply ignored it. Once I approve it, the parts are moved to a storage area, plus they are transported to different areas of the plant. Once I mark them as OK, I HAVE NOTHING FURTHER TO DO WITH THEM. He is doing this because he needs something to gripe about. In the past two years he has been taken out of this plant 3 times on a stretcher because of stress brought upon himself through his intense personality. It's funny that he is paying attention all of a sudden; usually any problems with purchased material are dealt with by going over me. Hmmmmm.................maybe somebody's watching HIM a little more closely......................................
Otherwise, how are things? VBS at my church starts Monday night. Unlike past years, we had only two months to prepare. The organizing meeting was in April and it starts June 26. In the future, I will watch closely to make sure this type of scheduling doesn't happen again. I'm sure I will be blogging during the course of the week about how it's going.
Have a good weekend.
Otherwise, how are things? VBS at my church starts Monday night. Unlike past years, we had only two months to prepare. The organizing meeting was in April and it starts June 26. In the future, I will watch closely to make sure this type of scheduling doesn't happen again. I'm sure I will be blogging during the course of the week about how it's going.
Have a good weekend.
Monday, June 19, 2006
A new week.
Greetings. I hope your weekend went well. I did something I had never done before. Now, before you get all excited or something, it was rather mundane work. I mowed my lawn. Yawn. But I started doing it at 6:30 am on Saturday. Yes, you read that right. 6:30 am. It really didn't phase me, since during the work week I get up at 4:15 am in order to be ready to clock in at the factory at 6:00 am. I got the idea from a neighbor, whom I observed awhile back mowing her lawn at 5:50 am one day as I was driving to work. So I thought to myself...................."Self,... you oughta mow Saturday morning REEEAAAALLL
early, so it's done and you have the rest of the day free." So I did. Got done by 7:30, and was able to get other things done, and go with my lovely wife IE (as she is known here) to some garage sales in town. At one of them, she found what she called the "mother lode." She is a BIG collector of Garfield items. An entire box of Garfield stuffed toys, and a table with other Garfield items. She brought home THREE bags of Garfield stuff............for only $8.50. If you have Garfield items you would like to sell.............rather inexpensively................leave a comment or e-mail me. Which reminds me, on Friday night, we had a date night; dinner at Applebee's and a movie, "Garfield: A Tail of 2 Kitties." It was funny, especially with Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. Jennifer Love Hewitt is in the movie as the girlfriend of Jon, Garfield's owner. I must say, she is very beautiful, and a really good light comedic actress. (Did I mention she is gorgeous?) I found something at a garage sale also. Usually I think that garage sales are just people passing their junk on to other people. But someone was selling a gently used extra extra large George Foreman grill ($100 new in stores) for just $25. I've used it twice and the food has been great. I'm happy with the purchase.
I hope that you were able to spend time with your fathers on Father's day. My dad passed away in 2002, and coupled with my mom being gone since 1981, I have no one to spoil on the days in May and June set aside for that purpose. Although I do have 2 mothers-in-law.......................................................
that's another story for another day.
Good day.
early, so it's done and you have the rest of the day free." So I did. Got done by 7:30, and was able to get other things done, and go with my lovely wife IE (as she is known here) to some garage sales in town. At one of them, she found what she called the "mother lode." She is a BIG collector of Garfield items. An entire box of Garfield stuffed toys, and a table with other Garfield items. She brought home THREE bags of Garfield stuff............for only $8.50. If you have Garfield items you would like to sell.............rather inexpensively................leave a comment or e-mail me. Which reminds me, on Friday night, we had a date night; dinner at Applebee's and a movie, "Garfield: A Tail of 2 Kitties." It was funny, especially with Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. Jennifer Love Hewitt is in the movie as the girlfriend of Jon, Garfield's owner. I must say, she is very beautiful, and a really good light comedic actress. (Did I mention she is gorgeous?) I found something at a garage sale also. Usually I think that garage sales are just people passing their junk on to other people. But someone was selling a gently used extra extra large George Foreman grill ($100 new in stores) for just $25. I've used it twice and the food has been great. I'm happy with the purchase.
I hope that you were able to spend time with your fathers on Father's day. My dad passed away in 2002, and coupled with my mom being gone since 1981, I have no one to spoil on the days in May and June set aside for that purpose. Although I do have 2 mothers-in-law.......................................................
that's another story for another day.
Good day.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Perhaps an explanation is in order.
As I think about it, I seemingly reappeared out of nowhere on Monday June 12, after four months of no blog entries. Hence, the title of today's entry.
At the time of my last entry in mid February, I was losing interest in blogging. My forty-first birthday was just days away, and it was just more of the same stuff, different day. In mid-March, I came down with pneumonia, which caused me to miss a week's worth of work. If you have had this ailment, you know just how miserable it is. Aches, pain, weakness, unable to breathe........and so on. Then, just one day after going back to work, I called in sick again, this time because of severe gout pain. I began to despair of ever feeling better. Fortunately, it passed, and I returned to the regular routine of life.
Since that time, I have returned to my old home town twice. I realize how blessed I am to be able to "go home again." On the last trip home I received a box of things that had been in my Dad's attic. My stepmother dropped it off at my aunt's house back home. There were pictures, the letters I had written back home from basic training, and occasion cards I had sent to Dad over the years. There was also my original birth certificate, which I had believed was lost, and the paperwork concerning the cemetary plots my parents had purchased in 1963, in order to bury my twin brother and sister, who were preemies, and were born and died on June 2, 1963. (I was born in 1965.) Dad bought six plots; four of them are now filled. The twins, our mother (died 1981), my mom's father (died 1977), and Mom's sister Mildred (died 1984). I read over the papers, and they say that my dad, and his heirs, are the owners of the plots forever. Since he held the papers at the time of his death in 2002, and I assume his son and 2 daughters from his first marriage were not interested, then that makes me his heir in assuming ownership of the plots. But the thing that brought tears to my eyes was the plaque I had made for Dad in 8th grade. An image of a 1912 Maxwell car, pressed in copper, and mounted on a piece of wood. This simple childhood gift hung on his wall til the day he died. He was an antique car collector and restorer. As much as having the plaque back means to me, I wish I had Dad back. He was diabetic, but bone cancer killed him.
Anyway, I've gone quite long in this post. Likely more to come.
_______ ________, .............................Good Day!
At the time of my last entry in mid February, I was losing interest in blogging. My forty-first birthday was just days away, and it was just more of the same stuff, different day. In mid-March, I came down with pneumonia, which caused me to miss a week's worth of work. If you have had this ailment, you know just how miserable it is. Aches, pain, weakness, unable to breathe........and so on. Then, just one day after going back to work, I called in sick again, this time because of severe gout pain. I began to despair of ever feeling better. Fortunately, it passed, and I returned to the regular routine of life.
Since that time, I have returned to my old home town twice. I realize how blessed I am to be able to "go home again." On the last trip home I received a box of things that had been in my Dad's attic. My stepmother dropped it off at my aunt's house back home. There were pictures, the letters I had written back home from basic training, and occasion cards I had sent to Dad over the years. There was also my original birth certificate, which I had believed was lost, and the paperwork concerning the cemetary plots my parents had purchased in 1963, in order to bury my twin brother and sister, who were preemies, and were born and died on June 2, 1963. (I was born in 1965.) Dad bought six plots; four of them are now filled. The twins, our mother (died 1981), my mom's father (died 1977), and Mom's sister Mildred (died 1984). I read over the papers, and they say that my dad, and his heirs, are the owners of the plots forever. Since he held the papers at the time of his death in 2002, and I assume his son and 2 daughters from his first marriage were not interested, then that makes me his heir in assuming ownership of the plots. But the thing that brought tears to my eyes was the plaque I had made for Dad in 8th grade. An image of a 1912 Maxwell car, pressed in copper, and mounted on a piece of wood. This simple childhood gift hung on his wall til the day he died. He was an antique car collector and restorer. As much as having the plaque back means to me, I wish I had Dad back. He was diabetic, but bone cancer killed him.
Anyway, I've gone quite long in this post. Likely more to come.
_______ ________, .............................Good Day!
Monday, June 12, 2006
Summertime....
is here, and not a moment too soon. To me, summer begins on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and ends on Labor Day. I know, I know, there is the matter of the calendar and such; I don't care. It's when I say it is.
My niece Elexus (long E, then pronounce lexus, like the car) began playing softball this year. It's her first time. She is eight years old, will be nine on July 7. Her first season began in late May and ends on June 29; twelve games in all. The games overall have been high scoring, but usually the runs are scored by the pitcher walking the bases loaded, then walking the batter.....but late in the game it seems that the girls find their hitting range. Last Thursday Elexus hit a pitch clear into the outfield. It landed just in the grass past the infield, then rolled a little bit. I was (and am) a proud uncle.
On May 27 my cousin Donna got married. My wife (IE) and I attended the wedding in Unionville MO, and the next day I sang for the morning service at Bel Air Baptist Church in Keokuk, IA where my cousin Mike is the pastor.
Bel Air was where I committed my life to Jesus Christ in 1979, at the age of fourteen. It is always good to go home again; I am fortunate to be able to "go home" again.
Been struggling with painful gout the past week or so. I think it's time for new shoes. I am very hard on shoes. Plus the fact of being overweight brings on the whole gout thing. We all have our struggles.....we deal with them daily.
Thanks for dropping by.
Bob
My niece Elexus (long E, then pronounce lexus, like the car) began playing softball this year. It's her first time. She is eight years old, will be nine on July 7. Her first season began in late May and ends on June 29; twelve games in all. The games overall have been high scoring, but usually the runs are scored by the pitcher walking the bases loaded, then walking the batter.....but late in the game it seems that the girls find their hitting range. Last Thursday Elexus hit a pitch clear into the outfield. It landed just in the grass past the infield, then rolled a little bit. I was (and am) a proud uncle.
On May 27 my cousin Donna got married. My wife (IE) and I attended the wedding in Unionville MO, and the next day I sang for the morning service at Bel Air Baptist Church in Keokuk, IA where my cousin Mike is the pastor.
Bel Air was where I committed my life to Jesus Christ in 1979, at the age of fourteen. It is always good to go home again; I am fortunate to be able to "go home" again.
Been struggling with painful gout the past week or so. I think it's time for new shoes. I am very hard on shoes. Plus the fact of being overweight brings on the whole gout thing. We all have our struggles.....we deal with them daily.
Thanks for dropping by.
Bob
