Cathy’s Corner

 

What is it about this time of year? Excitement is in the air because schools about to get started, kids are looking forward to new school supplies and maybe some new clothes. Moms are excited because the kids are going back to school. Dads are excited because Moms are excited. Teachers are busy getting curriculum, supplies, classrooms and everything else ready for new students. It’s a fresh new start for everyone. Even if you get your older brother’s or sister’s hand me downs they are still new to you. Everyone has the same opportunity on the first day to start a new school year and it’s a clean canvas. It’s up to you to paint the picture for the rest of the year.

It’s much the same way here at church. We are getting ready for a new Connection year. Our preschoolers will be promoting. Kindergarten will now be in first grade. Pre-kindergarten will now be entering into kindergarten. Four year olds will move to the Studio. Two year olds will move up to the second floor of the Theater. We have some teachers going back to their adult connection class, some teachers have moved to other areas of responsibility. Did you know that over 100 of you are staying to serve in preschool this next year? Isn’t that fantastic? I am so excited about you continuing to be a part of laying a spiritual foundation in preschool. Then we have over 40 new teachers joining us for the next year. Isn’t that fantastic as well? We are so close to being completely staffed that I can hardly stand it. I can almost taste it. I told Gary that in twenty years of being on staff that here at First Euless is the only place we have never been completely staffed going into a new Bible study year. I realize we need twice as many teachers to begin with but we also have twice as many members in the congregation. But I think I’d stand on the top of the church and sign the hallelujah chorus if we started with a full slate of teachers on August 16^th. I’d dance a jig, I’d eat a worm, well lets not get carried away here, no worms. But I would be so thrilled I probably wouldn’t be able to speak. That’s incentive enough for those who have to be around me for very long. So be praying because all we need is less than forty people to be able to do that. Forty may sound like a lot but not when we need a total of 177 to make each Sunday morning happen. Ask your friends to join you, invite a parent to teach their child’s class, find someone who has been sitting in adult Bible study for way too long to join us. I guarantee God will bless their socks off.

I hope you are planning on being here this evening. We are going to have a great time. The Associates and I have been working hard to prepare for this time of training and hopefully you are going to have some fun while we do it. It’s never a dull moment when you get all of us together. We hope to have your new class rolls unless we run into a problem like last year, but at this writing things look like we will have them for you. We hope to contact every one of our preschoolers before august 16^th. The best time to do that as a group will be August 11^th at 6:30 during Outreach. Come at 6:00 and get a quick meal and then we will go out in teams and you can visit some of the children in your class. Classes that have teachers both hours can divide and conquer. If you have twenty on the class roll then that’s only five children each to contact. I do hope you will be here tonight; there are lots of things we need to share with you in a limited amount of time, so be here early. The early bird gets the WORM. Thanks for your servant’s heart.

 

Have a great day in the Lord

 

Cathy’s Corner

 

So Gary and I went on vacation last week. Our goal was to drive to Virginia to see our daughter and son-in-law in Virginia Beach and take some baby items and then to go to Washington DC and some other places. Yes we are going to be Grandparents come late November or early December. Remember the year of the weddings? Well does that mean this could be the year of the grandbabies? Three weddings, three grandbabies or more if there were multiples, wouldn’t that be exciting? But I digress. So we were taking a glider, ottoman and high chair that Kiersten and I found at a garage sale when she was here in June. I made new cushions for the glider and covered the ottoman and I’m making a new high chair seat cover. Try getting those in your back seat. Plus we had our suitcases, a case of hot sauce for the pregnant one, because you just can’t good Tex-Mex in Virginia, and other items. While traveling we ran into two hailstorms that caused us, plus everyone else, to pull off of the road because you couldn’t see. The first one blew an eighteen wheeler over up the road from us. I have pictures!

The mountains of North Carolina and Virginia were absolutely breath taking. When I moved Kiersten up there in November we drove through the mountains at night so we didn’t get to see much. In the Bible study I have done by Priscilla Shirer she talks about riding to Knoxville, TN and wanting to work on her laptop but she couldn’t because she was so taken in by the beauty of the mountains. Coming over the hill going east into Knoxville there on top of this hill was this huge white cross standing in all of its glory. She said it was like God was reminding her He was still here and He created all of this. Well we came over this hill and all of a sudden I saw this white cross. I’m telling Gary about the Bible study and saying that was the cross she talked about. Priscilla was right, the cross is just there rising up out of these mountains and it was just so breathtaking. It was reminding us that God is everywhere. He created our world and these mountains and the trees. If we will stop and look they are for our enjoyment. They are a constant reminder of how powerful God is and what an incredible gift He gives us through His creation.

The Monuments in DC are incredible as well and while man made they still have that awe about them. You see them on television or read about the history behind them in books but they are just amazing to see in person. Of course the Memorials for the men and women who lost their lives in our wars were humbling. Gary found the name of one of his high school friends on the Viet Nam Memorial. Arlington Cemetery is overwhelming. The history behind each of these monuments and memorials reminds us of all our country has been through and the sacrifices made by so many.

We are all looking forward to Kiersten and Jay’s baby boy, Tex.  While there, I put my hands on either side of Kiersten’s tummy and sang to him and I felt him kick twice. (I’ve already heard the comments about how he kicked so I would stop singing. I say it was because he was so excited to hear his Mema’s voice.) Once again I am reminded of God as creator. Baby Tex reminds me that God is still here and He created this new life. Tex will bring us all joy and he will be a constant reminder of what an incredible gift God has given us through him. Like the monuments and memorials in DC that were made to honor people and sacrifices made, Kiersten and Jay now have the opportunity to honor God by raising Tex in a Christian home with a strong spiritual foundation. One day they will be able to pass on to him a heritage of faith that includes a loving God, loving family and those who made sacrifices for him. And as we prayerfully intercede on his behalf, one day I pray, as he learns about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for him, he will ask Jesus into his heart and begin a journey that is breath taking. I pray that Tex will see what an incredible gift God has given him in Jesus Christ.

 

Have a great day in the Lord

 

Cathy’s Corner

I’ve been out of town this past week so this was something I received as an email and I thought I’d share some Christmas in July with you.

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment. I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. "Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya buster,' the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks, 'What do we do?' Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.' Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.' Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up' position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this baby.' Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift.' I said nothing more than a muttered thanks.

With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, 'My God, my God, forgive me.' I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you willing to share your son for a moment?' When He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To enter the Kingdom of God we must become as little children.” Sometimes, it takes a child to remind us of what is really important. We must always remember who we are, where we came from and, most importantly, how we feel about others. The clothes on your back or the car that you drive or the house that you live in does not define you at all; it is how you treat your fellow man that identifies who we are. Author unknown

Have a great day in the Lord