Corey scared me to death as I was writing this!!

I had a great time preaching at the assisted living place on Sunday!  Old people are always so encouraging and excited to see you :)  There is this 96 year old woman there that is the sweetest little old lady I've ever met.  She is wonderful.  I can only hope that if I ever get that old, I'm just as sweet and as competent as she is!

Unfortunately, I was on my way out the door to preach when I heard about the church shooting in my hometown, Knoxville.  It's always a shock to see your hometown on the national news, especially when it's on the news for something like that.  I can't believe that these things happen, and in Knoxville of all places.  The church is actually right down the road from my neighborhood where I grew up and where my family is now, and only a few doors down from the Temple where my mom and I went.  There are no rational explanations for what that man did.  And all we can do is grieve with these people and be in prayer for them, and pray for the person that did it.  I always ask myself why these things happen, and never come up with an answer of course.

Anyway...what's new around here?  I'm performing a wedding next July! I met with the groom's mother today and that seemed to go well.  Then I went to visit someone in the hospital who I've been visiting in a nursing home.  It's one of those sad situations where she is stuck in this place, then something happens where she is better and goes home or somewhere else, and then she ends up back in the hospital.  So I try to keep track of her and go see her when I can.

Our wedding is 2 weeks away!  I cannot wait!  And we're getting more and more excited about our cruise, which is a month away.  And my birthday is Saturday!  We're going to the zoo and then out to dinner with some people- some that I haven't seen in a long time, too!  Corey is still job hunting...and that's about it!  We were going to see the Colts at camp last night, but it rained...so we didn't go.  But we're going Friday afternoon to see them...that's what's nice about them being here- there are multiple options :)

So as I was writing this next section (while sitting on the couch) Corey came up behind me very quietly and whispered in my ear, "Hi!"  I did not hear him coming and totally freaked out.  He is so sneaky!

Below is a poem I read to the people at the nursing home on Sunday.  I chose to read this poem (author unknown) because I talked about the mustard seed- how it is so small and grows into something big- but it also was "unkosher" in Jewish law- a person probably was disappointed to see huge mustard bushes growing in their garden- it was something annoying, something intrusive.  So what can we do with something that gets under our skin?  Something that grows into something that may be annoying?  And why did Jesus use these "negative" images (according to those he was speaking to) to talk about the kingdom of God?  He wanted to get their attention.  He wanted people to realize that the kingdom lies within the very small, sometimes annoying, sometimes unnoticeable things in life- the unexpected.  The more and more I preach from the gospels or study them, I keep coming back to this notion that Jesus keeps telling us to expect the unexpected- in Him, in the Kingdom, in life.  It's always the little things- and we have to decide what to do with them.  We can ignore them, throw them away, destroy them, or let them become something grand, something good, something that glorifies God and brings the kingdom to others.  And this all takes faith- the faith of a mustard seed- even though it may get under our skin at first and we may not know what to do with it.  It will come.  It will grow.  It will become something new and good.

There once was an oyster whose story I tell,

Who found that some sand had got into his shell.

It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain.

For oysters have feelings, although they're so plain.

Now did he berate the harsh working of fate

that had brought him to such a deplorable state?

Did he curse the government, cry for election,

And claim that the sea should have given him protection?

No- he said to himself as he lay on a shell,

Since I cannot remove it, I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around as the years always do,

And he came to his ultimate destiny- stew.

And the small grain of sand that had bothered him so

Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral; for isn't it grand

What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do if we'd only begin

With some of the things that get under our skin.