Sunday, June 25, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
All us grandkids of every age
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Yeah, this week I saw all four grandkids and my oldest aunt, and I felt like a kid myself. My aunt is younger at heart than most of the rest of us. We had margaritas (only one this time) and tacos and enchiladas for dinner and in the morning used a NYTimesCooking recipe to make “velvety scrambled eggs,” where you heat some cream in a frying pan and drizzle the stirred up eggs into the cream, fold, stir, garnish and eat. Our table was set and the kitchen ready when I came out of my guest bedroom suite at 7.
That was in the AM. In the earlier PM I moved a Lifeline machine off the bedside table and accidentally pushed the call button. “CANCEL” did not cancel anything . In a few seconds the loud voice of operator 1162 asked me to find Vera to help him cancel the call. Although I was ready for bed she was still reading the Wall Street Journal. We got the call cancelled, I promised never to do that again and went to sleep. I’m sure she did too.
All the hairs of your head are counted. Do not be afraid, for you are worth more than many sparrows.
What a good visit we had, full of stories from past and present. Open and free, happy to be with our family. Families often have problems, even intractable ones. Aunt Vera felt a little guilty because her family, near and far, seemed to be created mostly out of joy, peace, patience, love …
Jack is 14. He and I drive the Prius around the local country roads. This time on the way home we talked about the brakes. Usually you just tap them, but sometimes you push the pedal hard. It’s a whole different thing. “In fact,” I said, “this is as good a time as any to try that.” Before I finished the sentence, he pushed really hard on the brakes.
Everything in the partly loaded Prius slammed into the back of our seats. Our seatbelts grabbed us and we hung on for dear life. We looked wide-eyed at each other. Amazed. Afraid. Finally laughing, but it took a few seconds.
When Aly was three and four like Jasper now, she sat on the counter and helped us cook. This time she didn’t exactly sit on the counter, but she stirred the eggs, and Melissa took our picture. She doesn’t like eggs anymore, not just now at age 11, but she stirred them for the rest of us. She was a good sport. Aly has a couple of teeth invisibly missing in the back of her mouth. I hope she can eat all she wants on her family’s Alaskan cruise, which starts today.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, no secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light.
Miles and Jasper heard construction sounds outside on Tuesday, and so we put on shoes and started to explore. A Hispanic couple were painting, repairing and getting ready to weld the loose steps on our building’s outside staircase. They needed a 220-volt circuit, and we followed their yellow wires around the corner of the building, through the side yard, around the back of the next building, until finally we found their destination.
Why is that so much fun? Well, it is. And I love to share my pride in all those kiddos, near and far.
What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
The day after I left, Andi brought Miles and Jasper over to make gluten free brownies with Margaret. Andi could have helped them make the brownies at their house, but they made the expedition instead, and Margaret got the blessing. She got brownies too, of course, but mostly she got the precious time with those Austin kiddos. About the same time in Springfield we watched a ten-year old video of Margaret teaching Jack and Aly to make creamy mac and cheese, from scratch.
There’s no rush today. I get church in Mahomet with friends, a little Cubs-Cardinals from London (Cub won yesterday 9-1), a nap, time at a driving range with Marc in the evening. Our refrigerator is dead; maybe I’ll take the doors off and find help trying to push it out of the kitchen. I pulled the cord out of our ceiling fan and have no idea to get it back in. But the fan’s on, and the air feels good.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
(Jeremiah 20, Psalm 69, Romans 5, John 15, Matthew 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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