Check Your Pockets!

My son Garren got an iPod for Christmas. He loves it. He plays with it. He bought a cool little leather case to keep it safe. It's the new slim version of the Nano with video. It's pretty sweet.

So anyway, Nancy bought a couple of duffel bags for our kids, so they can pack for overnight trips to friend's houses, or Grandma and Grandpa's house. Just something big enough to carry a few important things that one might need on an overnight trip.

The zipper broke on Garren's bag. Bummer. So Nancy did what any good American consumer does. She returned it. Walgreens gladly exchanged the broken bag for a new one. Pretty cool.

Until the next day - Garren said "Mom, did you get my iPod out of the pocket on the duffel bag before you returned it?" "WHAT?? There was an iPod in the POCKET???"

It was about 8:30 at night. Nancy and Garren and his friend hopped in the car and rushed to Walgreens. They asked about the returned bag. The store attendant looked in the back...no broken bags there. They looked under the checkout counter...nothing.

Then the store attendant said "Maybe they put it back on the shelf." Yes, even though it was clearly broken, they might try to resell it to some unsuspecting customer. So they ran to the aisle with the duffel bags and started opening pockets. Just when all hope seemed to be gone, Garren looked in one last bag...AND THERE IT WAS!!!" How amazing is that? To God be the glory! How unlikely is it that they would ever see that iPod again? Pretty amazing!

Thank you Lord for letting us find the iPod!

Christmas is just 5 Days Away!

As we approach the big day, here are some things I am excited about:

- Kara had her school choir performance today. They did a tribute to the holidays, singing songs about several different traditions. They actually talked about the birth of our Savior!

- Garren is learning the joys of courting. He is giving a Christmas gift to her today. At least I hope he is...he's a bit nervous. Go Garren!

- Kelsey is VERY excited about our trip to Concord Mills Mall this afternoon. We must be insane, I know the rest of the world will be there as well...

- Nancy is super party woman. She has been involved in volunteering at the kids' schools, and has been helping out all week with different party's.

I hope your Christmas season is turning out to be a happy time for you and your families.

On My Mind Lately

I continue to see the pandemic of Biblical illiteracy in the American church. This is something that I have realized for some time, but it has been impressed on me much more lately. I would guess that most church goers have a very limited knowledge of what is in the Bible.

Is that wrong? Yes and no. It's not that we have such a limited knowledge of what God says in His Word. It's that we are not pursuing that knowledge. Show up to church, listen to the Preacher, then go home and pretend it never happened. No wonder so many live day to day wondering what it's all about. We are defeated! We don't know why!

Get your Bible out. Start reading it every day. You don't have to read it all at once. Just read some. Be systematic. Get a chart, or a reading schedule. Just get in the Word. We cannot live our lives for God, if we are not listening to God.