Still Laughing

My friend's son is 5 (almost 6). I was visiting one day and he and I were sitting together talking about nothing much when, out of the blue, the following conversation ensued....

Him: You have milk in your hips for your babies.

Me (very confused): I...what?

Him (patting my chest...not my hips): You have milk in your hips. It's for your babies.

Me (removing his hand and trying hard not to laugh): Those aren't hips. Hips are further down (gesturing towards my hips).

Him (lifing up his shirt): See, I have little hips (he points to his chest). You have big hips to hold milk for your babies.

That's when I decided that it wasn't my job to correct this little misunderstanding and changed the subject.

Seeing Clearly

Wednesday evening I started to see the world clearly again. It was surprising because I didn't know how fuzzy things had become until I put on a pair of glasses and everything snapped into focus. And it's not like my vision is very bad; I can see well enough (and I have no problems seeing close up; it's only distance that was fuzzy) and I only went to get my eyes checked because I thought the headaches were possible vision related (they were; I was squinting to see clearly without knowing it). Anyway, now I have glasses and I can see more clearly and the headaches should be a thing of the past.

Okay, so here's what I've been thinking: it's like sin, right? I can wander into sin slowly and not really acknowledge it for a long time. It becomes normal behaviour and I don't see clearly what I'm doing. Until one day I read something or someone says something and the truth about my behaviour snaps back into focus and I can see my sin clearly. And I can confess this sin and be forgiven and seek God's help in stopping it. And I can see clearly again.

Random Thoughts

I'm listening to the Aaron Lines CD "Waitin' on the Wonderful" on the computer, but Windows Media Player insists that I'm listening to "Live Out Loud." I'm not sure why.

Real estate agents who advertise on bus benches need to think about their ads a bit more. All too often they have a picture of the agent placed in the exact right place so that the bolt that holds the bench back to the supports goes right through the guy's forehead. I'm not sure I want to buy a house from a guy who looks like he's been shot.

Yesterday it was spring (almost summer). Today they called for snow flurries. I love spring in Alberta. It's like being back home.

Speaking of spring, here's my newest sign of spring: the drive-by evangelism of the Jehovah's Witnesses has started up again. I hadn't seen them since last fall but yesterday I was sitting at the bus stop and a car drove past and then stopped and out jumped the JW lady to offer me some reading material.

Hands-on in Junior Church

It has been suggested that I try more object lessons and hands-on stuff in Junior Church to hold their attention better. First, I think the only way to hold the attention of a bunch of 3-6 year olds is to be an animated tv character. Also, my big concern is making the lessons very Bible based and I worry about other stuff distracting from the actual teaching.

The big problem, though, is that this week I'm teaching about the water-to-wine at the wedding at Cana. Yeah. Probably not a good week to try for hands-on, eh?

Easter

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen." Luke 24: 1-6a

To Think About

What I have for you today is a story about the 5 year old twins at work. I'm going to call them Mark and John (because those aren't their names). They are adorable and may someday remember all the letters and we all want to take them home. They aren't actually identical, but they look almost identical; we're just now starting to be able to tell them apart. They're good about correcting us if we get it wrong. So, enough background.

Thursday they came in a few minutes early to use the bathroom. On their way through one of the teachers said "Hi, Mark," to which he responded "I'm not Mark, I'm John." She was surprised because she had gotten pretty good about telling them apart. Lucky for us their mom was there to assure the teacher that she was correct; they had decided to try to fool us. It was the first time they had ever done that and she was surprised too. She did make Mark tell the teacher who he was, but then he went back to insisting he was John.

After a few minutes Mark was keeping it up, but John had enough and ran out of the room after him calling, "No, Mark, you're Mark! I'm John!" Mark was pretty persistant, though, until I stood them side-by-side and told them which was which. John was happy, but Mark was not. And that's when the truth came out: I told him that I knew he was Mark and he said, "But I don't want to buy the whistle!"

Yup, it was all a plot on Mark's part to keep from having to buy a whistle. See, we have a toy store at work and the students earn tokens by working hard and trying their best and then they get to shop. The day before Mark had blown the whistle (actually a cheap plastic instrument-type thing; you know the type) and I told him he had to buy it, but he couldn't take it home that day; I was going to put his name on it and keep it in my office until the next day. This meant that he wasn't going to get enough tokens for the car. So he hatched a plan to change his name so that he didn't have to buy it. Of course this meant letting his brother take the fall for him, but this doesn't bother many 5 year olds (except the brother, of course). He didn't get away with it, of course, but it was interesting.

That's my story; you can draw your own insights from it.

Returning from Self-imposed Exile

Hello, anyone still out there reading my ramblings....I have returned to ramble once again!

It's been a good break. This blog-reading had begun to get the better of me; I was spending way too much time reading the ramblings of people I don't even know. It was time to stop, get away from the internet, and spend time with real, live people! Plus, I am up to my eyeballs in schoolwork and church stuff and that job thingy...you know: life!

But I have missed writing so I'm returning to share my thoughts with the world in general.

For today, though, I have nothing for you. Just an announcement of my return. Oh, and I got my hair cut last week. It is now shoulder length with layers, not all the way down my back. She cut off a LOT of hair! I like it short, though. It saves a pile of time in the mornings, time that could be better spent sleeping.

Okay, that's it for today. I'm still limiting my internet time. I'll try to come up with deep and insightful for tomorrow (but don't hold your breath).