Old Time Religion

An appetizer to the meat of this post--another "M-ism":
"My gratchy hurts"--my throat hurts (I have no idea where "gratchy" comes from; I think she got it from Caillou)


Now for the entree:
"Gimmee that 'ole time religion, gimmee that 'ole time religion...."

Yesterday morning at church, we sang a hymn that I don't think is sung very often anymore, but it brought a flood of memories back to me. I'm sure that if you think back to childhood or maybe even just a few weeks ago, certain songs mean something special to you. Not only does this hymn and others like it have an extraordinary simple message of God's love and the offer of salvation embedded within its words, memories of the circumstances in which these hymns were sung are almost as precious. Are you curious, yet, about which hymn was being sung?

It was "His Name Is Wonderful". Do you remember that hymn? What memories do you have of this particular hymn? I remember always singing this hymn on church building trips when I was very young. Growing up, my family would take church building trips with a group of adults from our church and from other churches in Texas. We would travel to a different state each summer and help build a new church in that area. I remember going to Montana, South Dakota, and Washington to name a few. I believe, though, that it was in Washington (the last trip I remember taking) that we were building a two-level church building so that the first floor was the actual church and the second floor was to be a living area for the pastor and his family. On these church building trips, we would take time out several times to have our own church services on the building site. We all came before the Lord exactly as we were (construction clothes and all), sing hymns (without hymnals, Powerpoints, or worship guides), and someone would bring a message of encouragement or a sermon. Of course, without hymnals, we had to sing hymns that everyone knew which was perfect for the few children with the group because we were able to see and experience mature Christians display what was obviously written in their hearts and minds.

Thinking back on those experiences...what a reminder of how simple God's invitation and message is. God does not expect or require us to come to him in the latest fashions, perfect hair and make-up, and matching accessories (what a relief!). He doesn't even require that we know all the words to what we are singing. What He offers is the simple gift of eternal life. The one requirement is just as simple. We explain it to children in Vacation Bible School as the ABC's: Admit that you're a sinner, Believe that Jesus is God's Son, and Commit to follow Him in everything. Yet even as simple as the offer is, some people just miss the mark. I guess they think something as simple as this is just too good to be true. Please let me tell you that it is too good NOT to be true. I hope and pray, that if this musing has touched your heart and you have questions about this wonderfully simple, free gift, please post a comment or send me an email. Eternity is a long time--are you certain of where you'll be spending it?

Just a Couple of Quick Things

Well, I guess Christmas is mostly officially over. The Christmas decorations at school have been taken down at least. At home: not so much--tree still up and decorated, wreath on the wall, and all the stockings are still hung by the chimney with care! Haha! It's a little bit sad to drive through the neighborhoods now and only see the porch lights on. Oh well, life goes on and we look forward to what a new year will bring.

M is speaking more and more clearly as the days go on, so before these cute little phrases are corrected, I just have to write them down (or blog about them):
"my by self" actually means "by myself"
"efelant"--elephant
"I go libaree, get movie?"--Can we go to the library to get a movie? (no interest in checking out a book; I guess we have enough of those at home, HA!)
"I sleep you" or "sleep me"--Can I sleep with you or sleep with me

Tuesday night, we went to dinner at Chili's on the way to the store to get a gallon of milk. What should have only taken us about an hour or hour and a half to do ended up taking about two hours. Long story short: Chili's was unusually crowded, but slow service was still unacceptable in our eyes and the manager's so we got free dessert, a coupon for free kids meal, and a gift certificate. I sure was glad that I had downloaded a couple of games to my new iPod touch (a Christmas gift from my mom and dad) that M could look at and play. She absolutely had so much fun tapping the screen which kept her mostly happy during our lengthy waiting time at the table. As a matter of fact, she saw me pull the iPod out of my purse in the car today and wanted to play one of the games while we were driving to church!

Anyway, that wasn't the funny part of the story, sorry. M is showing such creativity and imagination! How did this come about in Chili's? Well, she likes to steal the celery sticks off of Jon's plate (usually to eat the whole thing, which is good since her Mommy hates celery!). This time, though, she took a few bites of a celery stick and set it down. Then, she looked at it, picked it up, looked at me and said, "I need call Hanny Manny" which you could probably guess means, "I need to call Handy Manny." She pretends to dial a number (on the celery stick), puts the celery stick to the side of her head, and has a full length conversation with Handy Manny! When the conversation was done, she said, "Well, Bye" and, of course, hung up the celery stick "phone"!

Oh, she is so funny! She certainly keeps us on our toes between the three-year-old tantrums and the sweet and polite things she does. It is just amazing to see her learning, repeating (and repeating and repeating and repeating and re......you get the idea), and showing us what she knows! Each day brings something new.

I hope you have a wonderful 2010. Until my next post, laugh about this quote that I saw on a bank marquee: "May your troubles last as long as your new year's resolutions!" Haha!