Not For Sale

Mrs. Mac, our church secretary, got a very interesting call yesterday. A woman called and announced that she was "shopping for a church." I've heard the term before, but never really gave it much thought. It has a lot of implications that really are quite alarming.

If you are "shopping", you are comparing, which doesn't seem like a bad thing on the surface. But WHAT are you comparing? Are you lining up the color of the carpet in this church against how comfortable the pews are in another? Are you holding a timer to the preacher to see if one keeps you longer than another? Are you looking for a bargain? 'This church only meets twice a week instead of 3 times, so we won't have to invest as much of OUR time.'

If you are looking for a church that can do a lot FOR you, you're going about it all wrong. Churches are not here to provide meals for your family when you lose a loved one. They are not here to provide activities for your teenager or to babysit your children. They are not here to make you feel good. While all of those things probably do happen at some time at any given church, the church has a much more important purpose.

The church (meaning the people, not the building) has a two-fold mission: 1) to worship the One true God and Jesus, His only Son; and 2) to show the world how much God loves them. The church meets together to hear from God's Word and then to do what that Word says so we can make the Love of God visible to the world.

A church is not found by 'shopping.'

It is found by listening to God.

...Is His Word spoken from the pulpit?

...Is His love stirring in the people?

...How can I serve in this place?

It's not about shopping.

It's about being obedient.

El's Kitty Pictures

El loves to take pictures of our cats. Her camera is full of them. A few nights ago, she took one of Grisabella on the back of my rocking chair, so I thought I'd check out the collection of kitty pics.

This can't be comfortable.

Mrs. Jones likes the eldest's bed.

She also likes El's bed.

Gris likes to hide in El's bed. (Awww....)

I know...this borders on terminally cute.

Mrs. Jones is not fond of having her picture taken. You have to catch her unaware.
(go back and look at her eyes in the previous pictures, if you don't believe me!)
She usually looks like this:

This is about as close as Gris and Mrs. Jones ever get without spitting at each other.
Look, Gris' tail is almost touching Jonesy's back.

Uh, oh ... terminal cuteness again.

Fair Trade

I am a notary public. A church member came into my office this morning with a handful of gorgeous flowers to trade for having something notarized. That's what I call a fair exchange!

The church kitchen has all kinds of vases in the cabinets, so I went looking for something big enough to hold these.


In my search, I came upon an odd glass to be found in a Baptist church kitchen: a pilsner glass. I'm assuming someone used it as a vase...

Treasure

Some tasks that we are called on to do are just more fun than others.

Take this one, for instance:

I hand-copied this map (and then cut it up, as directed) for the children's Sunday School large group to use at some point in September. It was fun and I enjoyed doing it.

Other tasks aren't as much fun. Some are boring, some may be heart-breaking, or they may just be disagreeable. But still they are MY tasks: things that must be done in my specific area: things that are my responsibility.

That's true for all of us, in every aspect of our lives, whether it's concerning our vocations or our private lives. It's up to each one of us to do the things that must be done. We can grumble and complain the whole time, or we can use the opportunity to bring glory to God.

My Grandma Nell had this poem framed above her kitchen sink:

Thank God for dirty dishes.
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry
we're eating very well.
For by the stack of evidence
I shouldn't want to fuss.
With home and health and happiness
God's been good to us.

There is a world of wisdom there. Thankfulness is not practiced nearly as much as it should be.

Sign of the Times

I got a really good laugh when I went to wake Em up this morning!

Chips Ahoy

I made Jambalaya for dinner tonight. I had to make a trip to the produce stand to get an onion and a bell pepper first, though. While I was there, I saw some really nice tomatoes, so I got a basket. When I got home I wished I had picked up some chips, because those tomatoes were gonna make some great salsa. The girls decided that since they had experience making chips last week, they would do it again.

They also decided that they wanted round chips instead of the traditional triangles.

Little bitty balls of corn masa made the rounds you see to the left below.

Here are some on the griddle. (they tried going straight to the oil from the press, but it doesn't work well: they puff too much.)

After the griddle, they went to the oil.
(You can see one of the few triangles they made at first.)

Then to the paper towel to drain.

While they were doing the chip thing, I made salsa.

Very tasty!!

Half Made

I just walked into my room and noticed that my bed was only made on one side. I had been interrupted in the process of making it up and hadn't been back into my room since the interruption. I'm glad I went back in when I did.

What kind of statement would it make to one's mate to only make up one's own side of the bed!