Squawking Chickens

 

Our church has hosted Word to the World mission conference this week, and Marleen and I have taught the kids.  Teaching 4-8 year-olds has been interesting.  We have learned a Bible verse, learned songs, and had a story about David, the shepherd king, each night.  The kids especially liked the games: Zonk, rope the cow, and toss the rubber chickens.  My finger rocket game was a bust.  Not even the adults could do it.  Oh, well.  It thrilled my heart to see little kids, who can’t even read, memorizing Scripture!  Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  God can use His eternal Word to speak to these little hearts for years to come.  The adults hated the squawking chickens, but I got the kids to squawk “Jesus Loves Me” in rhythm with rubber chickens!  What a hoot!

Misshap

 

I began teaching at Berean Academy in Hixson, Tennessee in 1977 shortly after it had started.  I taught P.E. and French, drove the bus, and was the janitor.  A man of many talents.  Ha, ha!  I made a set of volleyball poles out of steel pipe, eyebolts, and car wheels.  The rubber tires/rims filled with concrete made great portable anchors for the net.  We used the parking lot at dismissal, so I had to take the poles in and out each time that I used them for volleyball at P.E.  It was easy to move each pole by tipping it over, twisting the pole, and rolling the tire base wherever I wanted.  That was until the day that I was rolling one of the poles out and my wedding ring got caught on the back of the eyebolt!  I immediately knew that I was in trouble.  So, I grasped the pole as hard as I could to stop it, but the rolling momentum of the tire was powerful.  My hand was pulled over the pole as I slowed the rolling base.  At the last second, I did a flip over the pole to save my finger as the tire finally stopped.  I pulled my ring off of the end of the bolt and surveyed the damage to my poor finger.  Other than a cut and a bruise, my finger was still intact.  The next thing that I did was to look around to see if anyone had seen my mishap.  Apparently, no one was looking, and my dangerous mistake was a secret … until now.  I’m sure that the dear Lord laughed as He watched the event unfolding, for God’s eyes are everywhere.  Solomon said in Proverbs 5:21, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.”  Often, we are reckless in our behavior, and we may think that our mishaps are unseen.  But always remember, God sees everything … even foolish P.E. teachers!

Problems!

 

I know things happen, but often bad things just seem to pile up.  We have Word for the World Mission conference at Calvary this week.  In preparation, we needed a new commercial refrigerator.  Kirk kept freon in our old one, but a tiny leak was daunting.  And it was old (the fridge, not Kirk).  The new one was to be delivered a week before the conference began.  But the new one was soooo heavy.  Miss Tam told them that they needed 4 men, but only 2 came.  They were strong, but the fridge won.  We had to take off the hallway door to get the refrigerator inside , but the2 men just couldn’t get it up the 15 steps.  They left it – upside down – in the stairwell blocking the doorway.  I called customer service and explained the problem.  The man in the call center understood our dilemma.  He lined up a crew to take the old (new) refrigerator outside to be picked up while a new one was ordered.  But it would be delivered 2 weeks later!  A week after the conference was over!  So, when the 2 men arrived to remove the old (new) refrigerator, we convinced them to take it upstairs to see if it would work.  And they did.  And it did!  So, the man in the call center said that Lowe’s would give us a considerable discount to keep the old (new) refrigerator and canceled the new (new) refrigerator order. We had our refrigerator for the conference 22 hours before it began.  Hey, God worked it out and we got a discount!  Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”