Airplane story

So, I am finally back from all of my vacations...however, I have one more trip Aug 4-6 to Kirksville, MO for a teacher's gathering. (sigh) I haven't had much of a usual "summer break", but hopefully will get accomplished all I need to before school starts. All this traveling makes me wonder if I will. It has been a good summer, though. I would take this any day over remodeling!

I wanted to tell my readers a story about the lady I sat next to on the flight home. She was a very spunky elderly woman. At first, we didn't say much to each other. She had grabbed a book to read, and I settled in next to Molly and grabbed Dennis's iPod to pass the time. We had a very funny flight attendant who came on the microphone and began telling "Steve Haden" type jokes. It was really the best flight I had ever been on because he made it so much fun. After he told a few jokes, the woman next to me began to say how "cute" that flight attendant was and how Southwest Airlines started. They only flew out of Texas, and their stewardesses wore short "hot pants", white cowboy boots and white cowboy hats, and they would line up like a chorus line and "dance" you off the plane. Very funny. They would also throw peanuts to you from across the plane. (Lamberts, anyone?)

She then began to tell me that she is 84 years old. She played tennis until she was 80. She and 5 of her friends all made a pact in their 60's that they would continue to play as long as they could, and they would try to play until they were 80. They all did. Cool.

She used to be a school teacher, so I told her that I am, too. I told her about our church school, and she was very interested. I found out that she has a rebellious streak in her, though. She said that when they outlawed saying the Lord's Prayer in school, she obeyed; however, her superintendent told all teachers to continue saying it. All the other teachers continued except her. He called her into his office and asked her why she refused to say the Lord's Prayer with her class. She told him that it was against the law and she wasn't going to disobey the law. He told her, "I am more afraid of His law (pointing upward) than that law." She told me she still wouldn't do it, and replied, "I've always been a sort of protester."

She goes to a certain denominational church, and she told me a couple of shocking things. She told me that a while back during a church service, a lady got up to speak. "Now, I know that may be normal in your church, but in OUR denomination, you DON'T do that kind of thing." The lady spoke about how she is a lesbian and she has been to several churches, but this church has been the kindest, most non-judgmental church that she had been to and was thanking them. After that lady spoke, a man got up and said how two of his sons are gay and they have said the same thing. This church is a place where they feel more welcomed. The woman on the plane looked at me and said, "Now, I was thinking to myself, 'I don't necessarily think that that is a good thing.' But I'm 84 years old, and I'm too old to go church shopping, so I will stay there, but I'm wondering where we are headed." **Note: I would hope that lesbians and gays would feel the love of Jesus at any church, but if they found a church to stay in, I would hope that someone would challenge them and their lifestyle. I don't believe in being mean-spirited to them, but I would want them to know the truth--absolute truth--of God's Word.

The second shocking thing she told me was that she and 5 of her friends all raised their children in church. A while back they were sitting around and began asking each other how many of their children were going to a church. She said, "Do you know how many of all of our children go to church? Zero. Nobody." She told me how their church has only elderly people, and she doesn't understand where all the young people went. She said, "I know the evangelical churches are really the ones that are growing. They really get out there and are the movers and shakers. I just don't know what happened with my kids. I took them faithfully, and I was raised to be there every Sunday and Wednesday, but my kids and grandkids don't go anywhere." "Wow," I thought. That would be so very disheartening. I began to talk with her about the thinking of this age, postmodernism, etc. How what is right for you may not be right for me...this is the thinking of today. There is no absolute truth. I pray. I pray that my children will never let the thinking of today or tomorrow be their way of thinking. I pray that my children will have such a sure foundation of who Jesus is, that there IS an absolute truth--called God's Word--that they always need Jesus. We all do.

First time for everything

Well, something new happened to me today: something I never would have expected. It's not really that "big news" kind of thing; however, it really got me thinking.

I was at McDonald's with my children. We were enjoying spending some time together in between lots of "busyness". We were laughing and talking. There was another mother with her three children two tables down from us with the table between us empty. All of a sudden I could tell that the mother was trying to get my attention. I looked her way, and she asked me, "Could you watch these two while I take him (pointing to the middle child) to the restroom?" I smiled and said, "Sure." Now I realize what it's like when one of your children has to "go" in the worst possible moment, but I have NEVER asked a stranger no matter how kind they look to watch my kids. How could she possibly know that I would never harm her children? There are some moms out there that I would not put it past them to do harm, kidnap, etc. Maybe it was the fact that we prayed before eating. If she noticed that, I bet she concluded we would be nice? I really don't know. I'm glad she didn't leave them with someone who would take off with them. That would've been very sad. Anyway, I found it a bit odd. In fact, I'm wondering right now if we were on some kind of "Candid Camera" show...

Parent/Teacher conferences

We had Parent/Teacher conferences tonight. It makes me realize how wonderful my children really are. They are all three so different, but all three very good children. Shelden has grown up so much in the last two years. She will be 11 in two months! She is a good friend to her friends, speaks truth in love, and is concerned about doing what is right. Sammy is 9 and is so intelligent and loves to learn. He is always telling us about new things he has learned. He is joyful and smiling most of the time. Molly is 7 and is very creative and loves to sing at all times. They bring us such joy, and we love to see life through their beautiful blue, green and brown eyes. It's times like these that I don't want time to go too quickly. All too soon they will be grown and raising their own children. I often pray that I won't "mess them up", and that I will be helping them stay on the right track in their God purposes. Did I mention that I love my kids?