Intentional Walk

McBirthday

• With God for us, who can be against us?
• God can use a wheat-threshing warrior just as well as he can use a left-handed man, an oxgoad wielder, or even (gasp) a woman.
• He speaks in different ways...through angels, through dreams, directly, through others...and we still wonder if that was really His voice.
• The greatest of servants can still falter at the end.
• God picks the right servant for the right service.

In the end, I chose none of the above. We'll focus on two things. First, that whereever we are sent to serve, God got there first and He will be there when we're gone. Before Gideon's army ever busted their jars, God was already working on them in their dreams. After the torches were revealed God kept stirring up the confusion. He leads like a shepherd and His presence outlasts us.

Second, we need to know that no service is too big or too small. We may not be sent to fight a war (I can live with that), but we will be sent to do something. Many things. We'll be sent to teach, to help a friend, to give something away, to show hospitality, to pay a visit, to make a phone call, to lend an ear. We must understand that God counts on us to answer His call. And even if the world around us doesn't know us by a single name like Gideon or Moses or Deborah, God knows us by the name He's given us. And that's all that matters.

So the sermon isn't finished, but at least it has direction.

The relaxing (slightly work-filled) day was much needed, because we celebrated James' birthday last night at McDonalds. The playroom was overrun with McFamily and McFriends. There was a lot of McScreaming and more than a few McTears. The place smelled of kid sweat and the floor grew steadily stickier as the night wore on due to the spilled soda in the corner. Some of the adults came back to pay James a visit and then spent most of the evening in the main McSection, away from the noise. Most of the parents though stuck it out and enjoyed watching the McPlay area fill up with kids. I'm fairly certain I saw some little guys going up the slide as others were coming down at the same time. I'm not quite sure how they pulled it off. James wanted me to go down the slide with him, but it was one of those enclosed plastic deals that ensures adult electrocution so, this time, he was on his own.

After lots of playtime, happy meals were served followed by cake and ice cream. Eventually, people started heading home and you could hear yourself think again. James' best buddy, Benjamin, was the last to leave. We gathered up all the McGifts (seized the booty), loaded up the Durango, and headed home. It was wild, but where else can you cater a party for 20 kids for 85 bucks? We noticed later that they didn't charge us for all the kids and wondered if the fact that our hostess used to be in my Geometry class was the reason. I didn't speculate as I wasn't sure if it meant she was being nice or she couldn't count.

James opened his presents when we got home and, as always, I was as excited about his stuff as he was. My mom got him a Toss Across game; she must have remembered how many times I asked for it as a kid. There were lots of Spider-man items and Hot Wheels tracks and Star Wars figures and James was up early this morning asking what we would play with first.

What McFun.

posted by Thurman8er @ 7:57 AM