Surfing the Inner N8

Turns out I’m not visiting the kindergartners today after all–they have an assembly at the time I would’ve been there.

Maybe next week.

Have you ever noticed how difficult it can be to buy a sympathy card?  As it is, I’m already rather particular about the cards I give to people.  There are just so many cards out there that are horrible.  I didn’t realize how bad they could get until I tried to find a decent sympathy card for two different guys whose fathers recently passed away.

One discovery I made quickly: Apparently, men were never intended to give each other sympathy cards.  Every single card in the “Sympathy” section had pastel flowers on the front of it and really bad poetry inside.

The flowery stuff was enough to disqualify every card from consideration for one man to give to another.  But what disqualified them all from giving even to a woman was the poetry.  Have you ever read this stuff?  Every card had something like this inside: “The pain of a migraine, getting hit by a brick/ Losing a loved one, or getting stabbed with an icepick/ Words can’t express/ So I thought it best/ To write you this stupid limerick.”  Okay, so maybe they weren’t quite that bad, but pretty close.  I can’t imagine actually giving those things to someone.  It seems like it would make it worse.

Anyway, the next time you need a sympathy card, I found that a simple solution is a blank card where you can write a comforting Bible verse, a personal note… and if you can’t resist, your own bad poetry.

Carolyn and I made what has become our weekly zoo trip a few days ago.  Sometimes I tease her about how much she likes the zoo, but I have to admit that there’s always something different there. 

On this visit we heard the wolves howling at some nearby sirens, saw a prairie dog jump on a peacock, watched two peacocks vying for a peahen’s affections, were entertained by some playful baby wolves, and saw some little baby peacocks.

We also discovered that bears and beavers get to enjoy nice fresh fruit there at the zoo.  It was another really hot day, and when we walked by the bear and saw a large bowl of fresh fruit lying there for him, Carolyn said, “I want some bear food!” 

Here’s a shot of one of the baby wolves, who are coming out of their den more and more.  They’re about six weeks old and are about the size of a cat:

This is one of the baby peacocks showing off his feathers, but they’re just not quite as impressive as his dad’s:

Here are a couple peacock babies with their mom:

And a special portrait Carolyn captured called “Peacock in Profile.”  As you can see, it’s from her blue period:

Verizon is messing me up.  I can’t get online on my computer, and probably won’t have it fixed until at least next week.  That means no blogging, no email, and no podcasting until then.  Grrrrr…..

This morning I met a man who’s been a Santa for the past 11 years.  He works a six-week season at the mall every year.  This guy John has a long white beard, even in April.  He told me that Santas with natural beards are paid more than Santas that have to strap on a fake beard.

One of the exciting things about a new day is you never can know what you’ll learn before it’s even nine in the morning.

Last night at our elders meeting we talked about the church Constitution & By-Laws.  That might sound kind of dry and boring, but it’s actually pretty exciting even if you’re not a pastor.  This important document briefly explains what the church is all about.  Sure, it can get into technical ground sometimes, but it’s essentially a statement about who we are and what we do as a church.  If you’re passionate about the mission of the church, you might be surprised how passionate you can be about its Constitution & By-Laws!

We’re in the process of reworking this document.  We don’t want it to be just a piece of paper that’s necessary in order to be legally recognized by the state.  Instead it should determine the direction of the church and define everything we do and don’t do.  It’ll be a long process, but it’s underway!  We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us.

The wind chill right now is 18 degrees.  It’s supposed to get down to 13 in a few hours.  I like cold days, but wow….

Funny how on the Shore it always seems like clear skies when it gets this cold.

Hahaha, check out this post by Pastor Darren Plummer!

Carolyn was gone for a couple days this week at a conference near Baltimore for kindergarten teachers.  When she got back I was looking through some of the materials she picked up while she was there.  There was one page that really jumped out at me.  It was about how children learn, but it read like a manual for discipleship!  Check this out, and as you read through it, imagine it’s talking about people in general instead of only children, and referring to church, ministry, and discipleship instead of the school classroom.  It almost reads like a page out of a seminary textbook on church ministry and discipleship.  It offers a lot of insight!  The following is written by Dr. Jean Feldman:

• Children learn through play.  That’s why we offer learning centers.
• Children learn by doing.  That’s why we sing and move.
• Children learn through their senses.  That’s why we provide multi-sensory activities.
• Children learn through language.  That’s why they need to talk.
• Children learn on their own level.  That’s why we create open-ended activities.
• Children learn through encouragement.  That’s why we cheer and celebrate with them.
• Children learn through imitation.  That’s why we model what we want them to do.
• Children learn through repetition.  That’s why we have games they’ll want to play again and again.
• Children learn by experimenting.  That’s why it’s O.K. to make mistakes.
• Children learn by interacting with their friends.  That’s why we encourage partner and small group activities.
• Children learn in a safe, nurturing environment.  That’s why we strive to create a happy classroom community.
• Children learn through wholeness.  Heart-mind-body are dynamically interrelated in that wonderful child!  Every experience in the classroom is connected in the brain to construct knowledge.
• Teachers who love teaching create children who love learning!

And people who love Jesus create more people who love Jesus!