This morning I had to get dressed right off the bat and in fact, was out the door before the young folks today. Their transportation was arriving as I came off the elevator so I chatted with Mike and Kari as they waited for the kids to come down. We arranged for them (Mike and Kari) to join the rest of us pool side tomorrow. All set!
Due to the longer ride to Victory, I had to excuse myself and hit the road. I called Mom en route and we talked until I was parked in the lot. Just as we were saying good-bye I had another call come in. It was Trevor, a step-son to our member, Jayne, asking if the CO kids had been picked up yet. I assured him they were on the way to meet him at their appointed location for the ride to St. Augustine to the beach house. Sent a text message to Kari to let her know Trevor and Travis were waiting for them, and gave her Trevor's phone number to speak to him herself. Later, she let me know they found each other and all was well. Whew!
The Bible study was great---a deep and troubling subject dealing with forgiveness. Wow, that opens lots of cans of worms, with more than one person dabbing at their eyes. One man struggles with some in his family who chose not to attend their mother's funeral. Strangely, a couple weeks ago it was another man whose family member did the same thing.
As the lesson stressed, the ones we have the toughest time forgiving are the ones to whom we are related. Or were related to, as the case might be. "Forgiveness is not ours to withhold" was one truth taken away from this lesson today. We are Gods' children, part of His family, and He forgives us all day, every day, even giving His Son for the forgiveness of sins. Yet, we struggle so!
At the end of the class, Pastor H. was critiquing the rather reckless folding skills of one man, a regular problem. He emphasized how important it is that everything be just so, our very best, as the service folder represents the congregation to visitors, etc. He mentioned something from the introductory notes in the folder and one man jokingly asked, "Are we supposed to read that?"
This launched a whole 'nother discussion regarding church manners and behavior. It seems that last week the organist got so frustrated during the pre-service music that she simply quit playing. It was so noisy in the sanctuary that even those not visiting could hardly hear the music. The accoustics in this room do make for an echo, great for singing but not when it's supposed to be quiet.
Pastor said he was using his Bible study people to be ambassadors of quiet and to encourage others to end the chatter once entering the sanctuary. Ed mentioned when worshiping last week in WI, the church was so quiet and more reverent, "more like church used to be". I made the observation that 'church' has gotten so casual and relaxed, with some people not even dressing up for it any longer. This might be a Southern thing, I hope so, but I bet not. As a child, we girls had 'church clothes' which were removed and hung up again upon getting home. Now some folks come in the clothes they wear for working in the yard, or so it seems. It was good to have this reminder about our church manners and attire.
On the ride home, I called Mom back to finish our phone chat. With the battery starting to fail on her cordless phone, we have about 25-30 minutes before it begins to click at us, giving us a warning. From the parking lot at Victory to my own, we made it without clicking, until I put my car in PARK. Timed perfectly!
I had less than hour before my next Bible study began so I went upstairs to have a sandwich. While I ate my summer sausage sandwich, I sent Mom an obituary she was unable to locate from her home newspaper. She reads them on-line and for some reason this particular one eluded her. I had sent her the link to click yesterday but she did not see the link and deleted the e-mail. This time I made the link the largest sized text plus did a cut/paste of the obituary and included it in the e-mail. It is amazing what can be done long distance and via computer!
Amber had a make-up class to attend at GS, having missed last time when her road was washed out during TS Debby. She is nearly done so Pastor K. wanted to get her caught up to us. Instead of her going alone, I went with her.
Since she is brand new to the Bible and its stories, I was looking on-line for a good Bible history book for her, like we had as kids in school. I don't mean a childish one, but one rather comprehensive without being heavy reading for her. Wonder if Justin still has any Bible story books in his collection...GS used to have Bible history classes for the kids to take prior to starting their catechism classes but am not sure which book was used. When Pastor references certain Bible stories when going over the lessons, it is apparent that Amber does not know what he is referring to, and this leaves her at a great disadvantage. The search continues!
For dinner, I made a modified pasta dish using Barilla Sauce, the sweet pepper flavor, which was cooked with browned hamburger. Oh my, was it delicious!!! Justin cooked the pasta and by the time all was said and done, there were no leftovers. Both of us regretted having seconds, something I usually do not do, but man, that was so good.
And now, all filled up with back-to-back Bible studies and pasta dishes!
