Elvis Sighting

I went to Elvis’s funeral on Monday. Probably not really, but you never know…

I actually went to Randy Levering’s funeral.  Randy and his wife Judy have been attending our church and the Masterpiece (adults with special needs) Sunday School class.  We see them in 2nd service; Randy and Judy were both in wheel chairs.  Randy loved to dress up as Elvis.  He brought scarves that he gave to children; sometimes he even wore a wig.  He made me smile about as much as does the stretch limo with steer horns that brings this special group of people to our building each Sunday morning.  Randy knew he was dying from the first day he started attending.  But I never saw him without a smile on his face.  From the reports of those who spoke at his funeral, I think this was his usual demeanor.  They spoke of a man who pushed Judy all over town in her wheelchair.  He had a 3-wheeled bike that he put a 3-person seat on so that he, Judy and their son could ride together. 

If you attend First Free and you haven’t already, I urge you to make it a regular practice to talk to “the guys” and Judy.  They fill our Worship Center with contagious joy that we didn’t even know we were missing before they came, but now I can’t imagine life without it. 

I was convicted by James 2 this morning.  The beginning of this chapter talks about showing favoritism based on how someone is dressed—social/economic differences.  We all notice differences, but in the church, we should see them as opportunities to get a little bit of heaven here on earth.  We think the USA is a melting pot?  Wait till we get to heaven! We’ll be floored by the beautiful uniqueness we see as well as the unity.

And Elvis is waiting for us.

 

Brilliant Thoughts

A few days ago I had some brilliant thoughts for a blog post.  Alas, however; I fell asleep and all is lost. 
This is Spring Break for LPS, and the weather is totally bi-polar.  We received about 6 inches of snow on Sunday, and it's supposed to be 70's on Friday.  I suppose that's the definition of spring.
We're at the nine-month home point with Daniel.  He's doing great.  This morning I told him it was "Dance While You Brush Your Teeth Tuesday."  He said, "Really?" in a less-than-convinced voice.  He's already learned to doubt a lot of what I say, so he definitely fits in with our family.  He did, however, spin in circles while he brushed.
A few weeks ago he told Dennis that he's scared to say, "I love you" to us.  I wonder if anyone else out there in adoption world can relate to that.  We keep saying it and trust that he will eventually internalize his safety in our family. 
He continues to make amazing strides in language and is doing great in school.  He's taking swimming lessons this week but says he won't go into the deep end until he's bigger.  It's always wise to know your limitations.

The Bible

The following is from my weekly newsletter for the Connecting Ministries team at our church.)

“Phew! That was close one!” 

As I shared on Facebook this week, that was Daniel’s response to the Abraham/Isaac sacrifice scene in the History Channel’s miniseries, “The Bible.”

I love his fresh perspective on this old story.  As he was watching, he would recount the details that he remembered from hearing the story in Sunday School or reading it in his Bible.  The next morning, he sat down with his picture Bible to see how many of the stories he could find.  He even said he had a dream about the angels (who came to Lot).

My reaction was more, not critical, but with a critic’s eye, maybe?  For example, I noticed in the Israelites fleeing Egypt scene that there weren’t nearly enough people in the Israelite camp (They were short about a million.).  Why did they include the story of Lot and not the story of Joseph?  Overall, I thought it was well-done and am looking forward to future weeks.

On the drive to work this morning, I wondered what it would have looked like if we actually had video footage of the biblical scenes.  I’m not one of those people who thinks heaven is going to have some cosmic movie screen, but I do think we’ll have opportunity for hearing stories from all parts of history.  Why?  Because they bring glory to the One who created everything; parted seas; spoke in whispers; brought fire from heaven; gave children to the childless, and on and on it will go.

This Sunday Ricky will challenge us to see that God’s goal is to reach people and we are the vehicle He is using in the current age.  Guess what.  If our neighbors are going to hear about Christ, someone is going to have to tell them.  I’m not saying a burning bush couldn’t appear in their yard, but I’m also not saying it’s likely. 

Because my current world is pretty Christian-centric, I’m challenging myself to develop more relationships with people who don’t think like me.  This week I started a beginning knitting class (much to my 14-year old’s horror).  I didn’t have a chance to do much more than introduce myself; I was too busy concentrating on the brand new method of knitting that I was being asked to learn.  But I hope I can use this as a way to just meet some people and be available to see what the Spirit would have me do with that.   If you live in a pretty small world, too, I encourage you to think creatively about how you also might broaden it.