Quotes from Last Week's Message

It has been quite a busy week, so I'll content myself with several quotes I used in last week's sermon. I really cannot recommend Ed Welch's book enough:

Worry reveals our allegiances. Fear and worry are not mere emotions; they are expressions of what we hold dear. They reveal the loyalties of our hearts. If we know Christ and have affirmed our allegiance to him, worry is a sign that we are trying to have it both ways. We certainly don't want to renounce our allegiance to Jesus, but we want to protect what we feel is our own. We are not so sure that the Lord can be trusted with some of these things, so we look for help elsewhere. And if there is no obvious alternate source of help, we worry.

from Running Scared by Ed Welch

If I can trust the word of a friend, why do I question the word of the God of the universe? Go figure. Sin is truly bizarre.

from Running Scared (page 111) by Ed Welch

We are so wrapped up in worry, our axieties go so deep, that a single command is not enough--a change could only take place if we were to see the world in a fundamentally new way.

Robert Tannehill

We Shouldn't Leave These Photos Out

These photos were from Mrs. Greer's camera and were too good not to post. Here are Bill Hilly and Jed with their group of 3rd and 4th graders:


Here are Fruit E. Pie, Rusty, and Young Dick Monald with the K-2 group:


Annie and Auntie Opal are pretty dear in this shot. What a stitch these two were!


Here's the whole cast for Friday:


Here are three shots of the lilies brought in for the kids and counselors from Seawright Daylily and Hosta Farm on Bedford Road in Carlisle. Now is a great time to stop by and see the end of their peak flowering season. Say "hi" to Love and Bob Seawright for us. If you look closely, you can still see the early morning raindrops on the flowers.




All of the colorful scenary making was supervised by Peaches:





And there she is, doing a little plowing on the back forty:


Here she is AGAIN, this time serving the sherbet watermelon made by my wife. If you visit with us next week, you can try a piece of sherbet watermelon (we'll also have pieces of real watermelon, too), see slides of the events, and hear the kids who are able to come sing some of the songs we sang. Pastor Weibley will be preaching on Matthew 6, one of the parts of the Bible we studied, in a message about facing anxiety . . .



Here was one of the most wonderful finds from our church historian, Ginny M. The 1938 (and first ever) Vacation Bible School in Carlisle. The pastor was Burton Goddard (who we believe just died last year) for whom the library at Gordon Conwell was named. He taught the 7th and 8th graders and premiered the use of a new teaching technique: THE FLANNELGRAM. The school lasted for 2 weeks, beginning on August 3.


Here are all who were here Friday on another set of steps, 70 years later, together doing the same thing, learning together about the Bible and praying for fruit.


This is likely my last Vacation Bible School/Backyard Bible Club post. Shortly I hope to have a balanced review of the book The Shack that seems to be sweeping the Christian world. And sometime, that topic, I'd been thinking to avoid: how Christians should be involved in an election season (in which I'll be giving links to some things that I've found helpful).

Hope International Tomorrow Club

Any who attended our Backyard Bible Club know that the children and parents pay nothing; we want anyone to come who would like; but, we have collected the last several years to provide a "Tomorrow Club," a Backyard Bible Club for kids in the Ukraine who could never afford to come to one like ours. $500 pays for (about) 30 children in the Ukraine to come to a Tomorrow Club for a whole year. This collecting for a Tomorrow Club is great because we who give get nothing from this, the church gets nothing from this; the ones who benefit are those we will likely never see, who will hear about the Bible because we have given. This year, I knew our Backyard Bible Club was small, and was not surprised that, by Wednesday morning, we had only raised, out of the whole $500 for a club:


A usual, I didn't want the kids to be discouraged, so I said, we'll see how much we raise and, as we did for the first year, we'll just keep raising money after Backyard Bible Club until we have enough. Hope International is just such a superb and well tested program for the kids AND for the parents. One of the sons of our senior pastor, who used to play keyboard for our praise band years ago (and still plays a mean bongo) is the president, the man who used to play lead guitar in our praise band just moved down to become director of administration, and three members of our church (including the dad of the Backyard Bible Club guitarist, Ray Cyrus Billy) serve as Regional Board Members. We know that every penny we send will get there and will be used faithfully. So, I was glad to see a big jump for Thursday morning:


What happened Friday morning, I could never have imagined. Nor could Peaches (Mrs. Pichulo). I could barely wait to tell the kids, because I don't remember this ever happening:


How amazing. These parents, these counselors, these kids. Everyone was thrilled I was thinking that maybe we'd find a way to add in just a little more to make it $500 even. Then, as people were leaving another child brought up a bag of coins they had not yet turned it. Peaches took all the money to the financial secretary of the church who counted the money with her husband. Turns out that either someone added more when we didn't see or that Backyard Club Counselors aren't the best ones to do math (though we appear to be good at addition . . . ). The total figure:

$515.30!

Wow. What a great end to a great week. This just in: next week we're inviting all who came (and won't be attending church somewhere else) to join us for church at 9:30 and then be part of the Backyard Bible Club 2008 reception after with Backyard Bible Club Snacks, pictures, and a display of the crafts (kept up from this week). We hope to have some of the kids sing two of the songs from the club and Pastor Weibley will preach the sermon on facing anxiety, from Matthew 6, one of the sections of the Bible we studied last week. Y'all come, y'hear. Yaaaahoooo. Thanks again for all who put all this work in, for all who prepared ahead of time, for all who drew the designs on the banners and painted them, all who helped set up rooms, all who gave their all so wonderfully this week and went home SO tired, who taught and played hard, Mrs. Greer (who directed the skits, and was it great!) but especially for the amazing Mrs. P. who so efficiently, week after week, worked with so many to make this such a wonder filled week. The Lord called us to this work and met us there, exceeding our hopes. Please continue to pray for all who came and that the "fruit of the Spirit" we talked about every day might be the real harvest of lives built on the spirit of Jesus working in us.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

A Pa'cel o' Pitchers

Ah, Friday dawns, a day of much finishing. Behold the Martha Stewart idea pots with tape removed:


The dipped wax candles, also a 5th and 6th grade craft:


Last post had Shayna and Flo working on the greenhouses. Here they are, and some have already started to sprout.

Third and Fourth graders play a Bible memory game in the Coop.


Morning games for 3-6 included Water Balloon Eggtoss:


Look at this stupendous NEAR catch:


Then, there was the leaky bucket relay:


Tidal Wave has always been one of my favorites. You run up to the "well," fill up your bucket, run back to the next person in your line and yell "Tidal Wave," whereupon you throw your water in the face of the person next in line. First team done and sitting down wins:

But here is masterful strategy. Be sure to double click on this (or any other photo) to see more details. In frame one note the alert and ready stance. In frame two we see the perfectly placed Tidal wave in action. In frame three, see Gregg already on the rebound, and in frame four, already on his way to the well for his run. WELL PLAYED!


And then, the joy of total sponge annihilation:


Most kids were pretty pleased with their crafts AND with those of other groups (here is Josiah with the cowbell windchime while someone else is holding chicken noise maker).


See Jack wear the hat. Stylin', stylin' Jack:


The whole group with their homemade farmer hats.


Ketie and Tia matched up in the leaky bucket relay for their group.



Plenty of water to go around, Fruit E. Pie.


Here's how you play Wet Sponge. First "it" takes a wet sponge from the "well" and walks up to a person of their choice. They say, "Wet Sponge."


Then the person says, "take a plunge," whereafter the it says, "Who's the grunge." Here's where it gets fun. The person whispers the name of the person upon whom they'd like the "it" to drain their sponge. Shayna thinks something looks suspicious below:


Alexander may be enjoying his turn a little too much:


Peaches always manages to be in the middle of the fun:


And, there are those intimate counselor to counselor moments . . .


One last time to sing through the songs:


And now, for those who chose to memorize, not only the verses for everyone, but a challenge set, there was the Pie-ing (of the counselor of your choice). Good sport Lilly Bob is first:


Grace chooses TC:


And Young Dick Monald (say that out loud 3 or 4 times and you'll get it) chooses Eb.


A great sister/brother moment.


Ah, but this example of mother/sons fun was best. Fruit E. Pie, like Alexander above, does seem to be having quite a good time . . .

Many pictures but little time to write--Thursday

It looked like such a bad day for poor (hysterical) Annie. She accidentally cut off her (hopefully) prize-winning pigtails, had TC step on her (hopefully) prize winning carrots, and had her (hopefully) prize-winning watermelon cut up by the hogs called by Uncle Zeke. A disaster in almost every way. But not for crafts today. Here is Flo and Shayna finishing up a mini green house (mung bean seeds in damp cotton encased in a zip-loc bag with a cool frame. What great arts and crafts counselors we had this time! Flo, Digger, and Grace made, taught, and finished up a storm!


And here is a group shot of the colorful and finished muppets.


The 5th and 6th finished the period Thursday (after applying the muppet eyes) with a flower pot design idea from Martha Stewart (yes, we are THAT classy!). Pictures of the final project look tomorrow.

And here is Fruit E. Pie with her group eating some of that gigantic, but ruined watermelon of Annie:

Many, many more pictures tomorrow, I promise . . . .

Wednesday, Must Be Aunt Opal's Banana-Cream Chili Pie in the Oven

Quite a day at the farm, when TC and Annie find themselves getting anxious about the upcoming fair. Uncle Zeke and Aunt Opal teach them a lesson about today's fruit of the Spirit, peace.


For the Bible story, we looked at the words of Jesus about why we are anxious (from Matthew 6). Then we did what Jesus told us to do, to consider the lily. Bob and Love Seawright allowed me to go over and pick blossoms for each child to examine and take home. If you've not been to Seawright Gardens (on Route 225, close to the center of Carlisle) this is a great time to see the fields in bloom. And, don't miss the hosta gardens. Anyway, I had read somewhere that the sign for "peace" in American Sign Language means "to become settled," which fits well with some of the Bible use of that word. And the more we learn about God and learn how strong He is and how wise He is, the more we are able to trust Him, instead of putting our trust in things that don't last. And then to realize, in what some theologian somewhere referred to as "the wastefulness of creation", how God has lavished all this spectacular beauty on what only lasts a day. How much more has He done for us!


Here we are finishing up our muppets, turning them inside out, stuffing the arms. Although without eyes, yet, they're already starting to "come alive."




Notice Mitchell above dressed, as were all his group (Lilly Bob's idea, 'twas), as a scare crow.
And below, the younger kids work on the shade hats they are making:



Look at the fun the K-2 kids are having as Peaches leads them in group games:

Here, Mitchell and I valiantly (I stress "valiantly") are in the process of losing a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It wasn't even close.


Several of us played the almost impossible role of Smaug the dragon protecting his diamonds (encased, for convenience, in a tennis ball). Jake shows fine technique below:

Here they are, the 5th-6th graders dressed for the day as scarecrows.

At the end of the day, I lead some of the 5th and 6th graders in playing handbells as Ray Cyrus Billy plays guitar and the rest of the kids and staff sing "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God."

And, oh yum, nothing like "dert" fer a snack . . .