Check Out a Bible

Last week my oldest, who is in the 2nd grade, came home with his library book. How suprised I was to find that it was the Bible. First, I was surprised that the elementary school library had the Bible on its shelves. Second, I tried to imagine what the librian was thinking when the pastor's kid checked a Bible out of the library. But check it out he did and carried it to Art & Soul on Wednesday night.

I thought nothing more of this until he brought his library book home again this week. You know where this is going -- it was the Bible (a different one, but I Bible it was)! So I asked him why he kept on checking out Bibles when we have soooo many Bibles at home. He shared that these were his Bibles and that he had been reading it. He proceeded to open it up and told me that this was his favorite verse, "God has always been, before there was anything there was God". (Genesis 1) Then he shut the Bible and began to tell me the story of Noah. As a preacher it was more than a little bit spooky. Maybe he'll become a great Sunday School Teacher or Bible Scholar -- that would be nice.

Thank God for the Art & Soul ministry and all those who teach. Not only has a seed been planted in one who has just begun to read, but it has already sprouted into a love for God's Word. Not only that, but a desire to claim it has his very own and share it with others.

BIT: I believe we'll be going to the store this weekend to buy him his very own Bible. We can't have the library staff thinking that Methodists don't have Bibles! I did notice when I was in a Sunday School class on Wednesday that not a Bible could be found. Hope they have their library card. Of course, if I had brought my Bible I wouldn't have been looking for one.

My Report

What a fantastic time I had on our College/Young Adult mission trip to John's Island, SC.! (yes exclamation points will be a staple for 2008!!!) I felt a little weird being a little outside of my comfort zone (I'm just a little outside of the College/Young Adult classification). As a matter of fact, we left on my "I'm not 40 yet" birthday (that's vastly different from celebrating your 2nd anniversary of your 39th birthday).

Being a little uncomfortable, and seeing that we would occasionally have an "incident of merit" such as Danny Howe hitting a stump and busting the entire entry door on the bus, or Sam Eastridge nearly losing a finger in the wood splitter, or Jarrod Suits lighting the most enormous fire work I have ever seen. I would occasionally tell the offending party that this would be "going in my report". As if there were someone who would care what was in my report!

So for all you who care ... my report is ...

We have the greatest group of college/young adults I've ever met!!! They gave up a large part of their Christmas Break, worked tirelessly through some very cold and windy conditions, ate food prepared by someone trained in the ministerial arts, and slept in conditions that make a dorm room look like a 5 star resort. They worked with insulation (one of my all-time dreads) and got stuck with the pointy ends of rabbit wire. And, I didn't hear one complaint, nor did I see even the suggestion that any of them were going to do anything that looked like something out of a college movie.

They were the best and I was privileged to be included.

BIT: You noticed the pictures mostly have a theme of eating ... out!