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Happy aloha Friday! Here are some great one-liners attributed to children. These reminded me of Kids Say the Darndest Things – Bill Cosby’s take-off on the Art Linkletter Show Art Linkletter’s House Party.
25 good ones:

A first grade school teacher in Virginia had twenty-five students in her class. She presented each child in her classroom the first half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb.

It’s hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading, keep in mind that these are 1st graders, 6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic!

1. Don’t change horses – – – until they stop running.

2. Strike while – – – the bug is close.

3. It’s always darkest before – – – Daylight Saving Time.

4. Never underestimate the power of – – – termites.

5. You can lead a horse to water but – – – how?

6. Don’t bite the hand that – – – looks dirty.

7. No news is – – – impossible.

8. A miss is as good as a – – – Mr.

9. You can’t teach an old dog – – – new math.

10. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll – – – stink in the morning.

11. Love all, – – – trust me.

12. The pen is mightier than the – – – pigs. 

13. An idle mind is – – – the best way to relax.

14. Where there’s smoke there’s – – – pollution.

15. Happy the bride who – – – gets all the presents.

16. A penny saved is – – – not much.

17. Two’s company, three’s – – – the Musketeers.

18. Don’t put off till tomorrow what – – – you put on to go to bed.

19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and – – – you have to blow your nose.

20. There are none so blind as – – – Stevie Wonder.

21. Children should be seen and not – – – spanked or grounded.

22. If at first you don’t succeed – – – get new batteries.

23. You get out of something only what you – – – see in the picture on the box.

24. When the blind lead the blind – – – get out of the way.

**And the !WINNER! and last one!

25. Better late than – – – pregnant

Make it a wonderful day, Beloved! Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service.

chick

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     This is a story I read once, probably in an Internet mailing, and this week it came back to me more as a lesson than as a story as I watched two of the ushers in our church. One is in his mid-nineties, but still never fails to welcome and to serve. The other is a little younger – late 80’s – and always has a twinkle in his eyes and a great story that begins with “I don’t know if you ever heard this one, but there was this guy…” This one’s for Pete and Bud:

It was a drizzly Sunday but the church was still packed. The assembly was seated and singing the Offertory Hymn, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” As they sang, as young man came in through one of the side entrances.

The young man was dressed in jeans, a dirty and torn Bob Marley T-shirt, and wearing beat-up sandals. His hair was done up in dreadlocks and was matted and dirty. His face was thin and his eyes glazed. He looked very different from the church members who were all decked out in their Sunday clothes.

The young man wandered into the middle aisle staring blankly around at all the people who were staring back at him. It was clear that some were looking on him with revulsion, some with indignation, some with pity, and some with astonishment and curiosity. But, being good Christian folks, they kept on singing and watching warily.

He eventually made his way to the center aisle where he slowly sat down, apparently to listen to the singing, or maybe just because that was as far as he could go. Still the people sang, and stared, and wondered if they should do anything. Whispered imprecations were blended in with the lyrics of the hymn and the young man started to hum along with the melody. Everyone seemed to be thinking that someone ought to do something; but who?

Then, from the back of the church, one of the ushers started walking slowly up the aisle toward the young man. He was an older gentleman, and had been serving as an usher for years and years. Despite his arthritic hands and knees, he could be found every Sunday standing in the narthex of the church warmly greeting church members and visitors, always with both hands and arms extended for a firm double-handed handshake or a genuine grampa-hug. And now he was walking toward this dirty and disheveled young man who had dared to intrude into this holy place, God’s house.

The singing wavered a bit as people held the hymnal in one hand and pointed to the usher with the other. Their faces now reflecting the anticipation of what was going to happen. Was there going to be a scene? Would the old man have to tussle with the young man? What should they do? What if he needed help subduing this upstart? A sense of fear rippled through the crowd and the usher finally reached where the young man had seated himself.

He stood there for a moment as if bracing himself for what was coming. Then slowly and carefully, he moved around a bit so he was beside the young man. He got down one knee, and the onlookers could see it cost him some pain. He rested one hand on the floor, and slowly lowered himself into a sitting position right next to the young man, and joined in on singing the third verse of “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.”

“Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, Help me I pray!

Power, all power Surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Saviour Divine!”

Again the singing wavered a little as the people saw this act of love unfold. They knew why this was happening: The usher did not want the young man to be alone there in the middle of the church. He was willing to do what it took to prevent that from happening. There were a few watching whose eyes brimmed a little, a few whose voices cracked a bit as they stifled an urge to cry. Some broke out in huge smiles of understanding and appreciation and sang all the louder. Some stopped singing and just stared. The pastor stepped out from behind the pulpit, moved forward on the dais a little, and also sat down on the floor. In the assembly a scattered few moved into the aisle and sat down, too. And they kept singing.

“Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o’er my being Absolute sway

Fill with Thy Spirit Till all shall see

Christ only, always, Living in me!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In that usher, I see the servant of God I long to be.

In that young man, I see me as I am.

In all of us, I see what the people saw, and I pray to God that when the time comes, we will all have sense enough to sit down and humble ourselves be Him who gave up everything just to come and be with us.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I also want to share with you just a few quick sentences from the Mission Week services we’ve attended a couple of years ago. For those of you who aren’t Catholics, a Mission is similar to what other denominations call a Revival. We get together, outside of the regular worship services, for a time of learning, teaching, praying, singing, rejoicing, renewing, and reenergizing our faith and our lives. The presenter was Fr. Chuck Faso, OFM (http://www.frchuckofm.org/) and he’s really quite a guy, one of those absolutely passionate Franciscans whom God has gifted with many, many talents and a great big heart. So, here are a few gems, some his, some mine, but now, all yours because they were always God’s.

• “If you cannot name it, you cannot claim it.”
• “I’m fine.” Really? You know what fine often stands for: “Fouled-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Empty.”

• Don’t just take a nap. Surrender to those sheets.
• Don’t take, give until all is given.
• Only surrender will give you freedom.
• Take a few minutes and write down all the things it means to be Catholic. If someone asked you what does it mean to be a Catholic, how would you answer? (And if not Catholic, the Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Buddhist, Bahrainis, agnostic, Universalist, …) How would you describe why you are [one of those]?
• Night ends and day begins when you can look into the face of everyone you see and recognize them as a brother and sister, a child of God.
• When you talk to God, what do you call Him? What names do you use when you speak to Him? (My personal favorites are Abba and El Shadai)
• Do the best you can and can the rest.” (In Indian Health Service we often used to say, “Do the best you can with what you’ve got and bag the rest.”)
• I am “Christed.” Because I am anointed.
• WOW! WOW! And WOW!!
• God’s not worried about the things I cannot do, so why should I be worried about them?
• Not even God can make everybody happy all the time.
• If you really knew as much as you think you know, you’d know it’s not enough.
• Now matter what, when God looks at you through Jesus’ eyes, all He sees is how beautiful you are.

Well, you know me; I could go on and on.  Make it a great Aloha Friday, and remember, this is the day the Lord is making, so live it up a little.

You know I love you, so: Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever — at your service.

Chick    Age Quod Agis

Lyrics form THE SERVICE HYMNAL copyright 1922 & 1961. “Have Thine Own Way, Lord!” by Adelaide A. Pollard and George C. Stebbins. Copyright 1935 by Geo. C. Stebbins, Renewal, Hope Publishing Company, owner.

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

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Happy Aloha Friday, Beloved!

I was reminded recently of a story I had seen in an E-Mail years ago about a call to a computer help-line. The story ended with the on-call technician telling the customer to carry the computer back to the store where she bought it because she was too stupid to own a computer. That’s not quite how the real conversation went down, but it was sure funny anyway. I’ve got the original post in this document (which is located here: http://www.progress.demon.co.uk/Fun/Trouble-with.html) as well as a link to the SNOPES history of the story http://www.snopes.com/humor/business/wordperfect.asp. Just for fun, here’s a whole website of things to read.
http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_calls.shtml and http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
I send this along to you today for two reasons. Maybe more, we’ll see.

[1] It is Friday and it’s time to have some fun
[2] This is funny
[3] When you read through these, even if you feel you’re not all that bright when it comes to computers, you’ll easily be able to see you’re NOT nearly as dumb as some of these folks! So get yourself someplace where you can laugh out loud and shout “No WAY!!” Then read through this story and check out the others.

{For those of you whose access to the Internet is blocked for some of these sites, I assure you it’s OK to forward them to your home computers and try them there.]

Here is the original post:

[email protected] (CyberKnght) writes:
>
>When I worked as a customer service rep at the cable company, few things >frustrated me more than vague customers.
>
>”Hi. My cable’s not working right”
> […]
>”How do I tell if my TV is on channel 3?”
>
>And on and on and on and on… this kind of call was typical of my day at >the cable company

This reminds me of a call I got from a faculty member when I was computer-assisting my way through college:

“Welch Hall computer assistant; may I help you?”
“Yes, well, I’m having trouble with WordPerfect.”
[Instant voice-recognition: I know it’s a particularly ditzy blonde French
professor with whom I have had prior dealings.]
“What sort of trouble, Dr. B?”
“Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away.”
“Went away?”
“They disappeared.”
“Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s blank; it won’t accept anything when I type.”
“Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?”
“How do I tell?”
[Uh-oh. Well, let’s give it a try anyway.]
“Can you see the C:\> prompt on the screen?”
“What’s a sea-prompt?”
[Uh-huh, thought so. Let’s try a different tack.]
“Never mind. Can you move the cursor around on the screen?”
“There isn’t any cursor: I told you, it won’t accept anything I type.”
[Ah–at least she knows what a cursor is. Sounds like a hardware problem.
I wonder if she’s kicked out her monitor’s power plug.]
“Does your monitor have a power indicator?”
“What’s a monitor?”
“It’s the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have
a little light that tells you when it’s on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord
goes into it. Can you see that?”
[sound of rustling and jostling]
[muffled] “Yes, I think so.”
“Great! Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it’s plugged into the
wall.”
[pause]
“Yes, it is.”
[Hmm. Well, that’s interesting. I doubt she would have accidentally turned
it off, and I don’t want to send her hunting for the power switch because
I don’t know what kind of monitor she has and it’s bound to have more than
one switch on it. Maybe the video cable is loose or something.]
“When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two
cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?”
“No.”
“Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other
cable.”
[rustle-rustle]
[muffled] “Okay, here it is.”
“Follow it for me, and tell me if it’s plugged securely into the back of
your computer.”
[still muffled] “I can’t reach.”
“Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?”
[clear again] “No.”
“Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?”
“Oh, it’s not because I don’t have the right angle–it’s because
it’s dark.”
“Dark?”
“Yes–the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming
in from the window.”
“Well, turn on the office light then.”
“I can’t.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because there’s a power outage.”
“A p–!”
[ARGH!]

This woman was good friends with my supervisor, who was also a French professor (still is, matter of fact–and in addition, she’s now also my wife), so I couldn’t deal with her the way I really wanted to, and was forced to explain sweetly and gently to her that computers needed power just like office lights, and if the office lights were out, then the computer was too, and that yes, if she hadn’t saved her work she had probably lost everything she’d done so far in WordPerfect. But I could still fantasize:

{This is the fantasy ending that really capped the story and catapulted it into the realm of truly funny stuff}

“A power outage? Aha! Okay, we’ve got it licked now. Do you still have the
boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?”
“Well, yes, I keep them in the closet.”
“Good! Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was
when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from.”
“Really? Is it that bad?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is.”
“Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?”
“Tell them you’re TOO STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!”
[slam]

But that wouldn’t have been a very nice thing to do, now would it?

Here’s another one
• Tech Support: “Thank you for calling customer service, and how may I help you?”
• Customer: “I can’t get it to do.”
• Tech Support: “Excuse me, ma’am?”
• Customer: “I can’t get my Internet to do.”
• Tech Support: “Let’s check your setup.”
• Customer: “Okey dokey.”
• Tech Support: “Are you at your desktop?”
• Customer: “Yes.”
• Tech Support: “Do a double click on the ‘My Computer’ icon.”
• Customer: “I don’t see that one.”
• Tech Support: “What screen are you on, and what does you desktop look like?”
• Customer: “Wood.”
• Tech Support: “What’s on your screen, ma’am?”
• Customer: “A bunch of names.”
• Tech Support: “Like what?”
• Customer: “Bill, George, Larry, Jim.”
• Tech Support: “What screen are you on?”
• Customer: “I am on the one I’m on. I need to go get my daughter. She’s the computer guru of the family.”
• Tech Support: “Great, thank you.”
• April: “Hi, I’m April, and you are?”
• Tech Support: “Mike.”
• April: “Mike. Cool, dude.”
• Tech Support: “Are you at your desktop?”
• April: “You will have to excuse my mother. She’s a little dense.”
• Tech Support: “No problem.”
• April: “How old are you?”
• Tech Support: “300 years old. I’m the ‘Highlander.’ Um, would you do a double click on the ‘My Computer’ icon?”
• April: “Sorry, I don’t see that one.”
• Tech Support: “What do you see?”
• April: “Bill, George, Larry, and Jim.”
• Tech Support: “What version of Windows are you using?”
• April: “Ninety-something I guess.”
• Tech Support: “Erm. Shut down the computer and reboot.”
• April: “Ok….” (pause) “Done.”
• Tech Support: “What does your screen say?
• April: “Bill, Larry, Jim, Barbie, and Wimper.”
• Tech Support: “Just for kicks, do a double click on ‘Bill,’ and see what happens.”
• April: “What is this?”
• Tech Support: “What did it do?”
• April: “It now has little folders: modems, devices, etc.”
• Tech Support: “Why was your ‘My Computer’ icon named Bill?”
• April: “I wanted to name it something cute. Did I screw up?”

Have a great weekend. Love for, from, and with the MBN

chick

(Remember: Ignorance is treatable, but stupidity is terminal.)

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Goodness, we’re at the end of the week already! Did yours go as fast as mine? Seems like now that I’m on the other side of that hill I got over, I’m picking up speed with each passing day. We’d love to be able to retire, but retirement seems so far off even though we should be very close. I figure I’ll be lucky to be able to do that in about 6 more years, but I may just have to keep working until, like Professor Binns in the Harry Potter stories, I just wake up one morning without my body and . . . go back to work!!

Family news: I guess I’ll start with Tim who had a close call Wednesday. He and his coworker were on their way to another TV-dish installation when the steering linkage on their van fell apart. The van was only traveling about 15 mph, but the front wheels jerked suddenly to the right and the van sideswiped a telephone pole. That set off the airbags. The passenger-side airbag forced the clipboard and phone T was holding right into his face. The clipboard shattered and left him with a bunch of “clipboard-shrapnel” imbedded in his face and his upper lip swelled up X3 bigger than normal. The EMT’s who got to the scene moments later told him the damage wasn’t serious enough to go to the hospital, but he’s going to be banged up for a few weeks. The tough part is, that’s the van they use to get to their jobs, and without it, there’s no work. Turns out the brakes had been overhauled recently, and they think maybe something went amiss there.

Maria is really enjoying her work at Banner Health Care. She’s working in the kitchen, and has been learning lots of new things. She called the other day to say she’d mastered omelet-making. She and Tommy and the kids are still living in south central Phoenix. Tommy’s taking a shot at being the house-spouse again for a while. He has at least committed to going to out-patient rehab twice a week, and has a renewed commitment to staying away from his tweaker friends. William continues to follow the straight-and-narrow Gamma instilled in him during his visit here. He likes the idea of being on a regular schedule, love going to school, and insists that no one starts eating until everyone has said grace. Chaz is doing great, and becoming avidly interested in William’s school, so Willie is “tutoring” him. Miranda is growing fast and her coordination is improving daily. She’ll still probably have some problems early on in her school career, but the physical therapy she’s getting now really has made a difference.

Crucita is toughing it out with her math classes. We continue to be astounded and how little the kids know about basic stuff in math and English. They can’t read, they can’t write, they can barely do four-function math, so prealgebra is an unfathomable mystery to them. A would not be so bad if they would just be willing to learn. Several of them don’t bother to come to class. Of those that show up maybe 2 or 3 of them will actually work on the assignments. The rest of them spend their time staring at the ceiling, trying to play with their phones, and cursing Crucita. Yet their parents expect her to make sure their little darlings get a diploma. Many of the kids have missed so many classes and assignments that’s there’s no way they can make them up, and because they’ve been consistently UNand Guamanians! ought to think about that, too!

Meanwhile, ya’ll be good to one another. Don’t forget to pray for the WHOLE MBN, and remember … I’m remembering you.

Be held in the arms of Peace. And Age quod agis. And …
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service.

Chick

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Happy Aloha Friday y’all!

I can’t remember the last time Friday looked sooooooooooo GOOD to me! It’s been a pretty heavy week, and next week – at least the first three days – will be worse. Still the price of progress is . . . hard to calculate!

I’ve been working on responding to the citations we got on our JCAHO survey. After that, we’ll wait for them to decide what to do with us, and then start submitting Plans of Correction and all that rot. I swear, we’re just being regulated to death in healthcare. In Education, too, says Crucita. We spend more time dealing with paperwork for compliance issues (because people do stupid things and Congress hits us with a two-megaton whomp to correct that) than we do delivering care or teaching kids. Crucita and I are also seeing the same kinds of responses to our “industries.” I become more and more aware of more and more people who don’t give a rip about trying to stay healthy, and Crucita seems more and more kids (and their parents) who don’t give a rip about being educated. (“I won’t do it. It’s too hard.”) As I recall, I’ve put that kind of information in a couple of notes; it’s just so prevalent and so ubiquitous that I can’t help mentioning it again.

But then, there’s good news, too. Talked with Tim recently and he’s just getting along really well. Still installing those dish-tv thingies, still playing his violin when he gets a chance, but he finds that the overwhelming urge to get another gig so he can become rich and famous isn’t quite as important as he once thought. He had an amusing story about a friend of his who works in a restaurant, and just happened to meet one of the couples that goes to our church. They had gone there to eat, the conversation turned to “where do your live,” one thing led to another, and his friend found out they actually knew Tim from when he visited us in Kauai “What are the chances?”

Maria Cereza FINALLY got a job at Banner Health Care in Phoenix and she’s just ecstatic about it. She’s delivering trays for food service, but the cool ting is that she’s eligible for their in-house training program for CNA. That’s something she’s wanted to do since high school, so three cheers for her. The kids are all OK and Tommy is doing his part by working hard at being the House Spouse.

Crucita is totally jealous of all of you who keep writing us about having retired! We want to do that, too. Hopefully before the housing market totally tanks or immediately after it picks up again. I figure I’ve got six more years to go before I retire. This has been a difficult year for her because of the way the kids — and even the other teachers — interact with her. She finds a great deal of consolation, though, in her involvement with our Parish – as do I – and we’re having a GREAT time reading all of the Harry Potter books again. We’re going to read the whole series straight through! We just got to the part where Professor McGonagall took away Harry’s FIREBOLT. If you don’t know what that means, you should read the books. They’re great fun!

Finally, this in closing:
Remember the six simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

6. Share the Joy as you pass The Word along.
Remember to pray for the MBN because all of us love you.

chick

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A blessed Aloha Friday to all of you, Beloved!

Old gloves
I just wanted to share this with you…. it is long but worth it

TO MEET SUCH A MAN

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, “I will work for food.” My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him.
I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: “Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square.”

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out, and approached the town’s newest visitor.

“Looking for the pastor?” I asked.

“Not really,” he replied, “just resting.”

“Have you eaten today?”

“Oh, I ate something early this morning.”

“Would you like to have lunch with me?”

“Do you have some work I could do for you?”

“No work,” I replied. “I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.”

“Sure,” he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?”

“St. Louis.”

“Where’re you from?”

“Oh, all over; mostly Florida.”

“How long you been walking?”

“Fourteen years,” came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, “Jesus is The Never Ending Story.”

Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

“Nothing’s been the same since,” he said, “I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.”

“Ever think of stopping?” I asked.

“Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.”

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: “What’s it like?”

“What?”

“To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?”

“Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me.”

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said, “Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.”

I felt as if we were on holy ground. “Could you use another Bible?” I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite “I’ve read through it 14 times,” he said.

“I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church and see.” I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

“Where are you headed from here?” I asked.

“Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.”

“Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?”

“No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.”

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we’d met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

“Would you sign my autograph book?” he asked. “I like to keep messages from folks I meet.”

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.”

“Thanks, man,” he said. “I know we just met and we’re really just strangers, but I love you.”

“I know,” I said, “I love you, too.” “The Lord is good!”

“Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?” I asked

“A long time,” he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, “See you in the New Jerusalem.”

“I’ll be there!” was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned, and said, “When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?”

“You bet,” I shouted back, “God bless.”

“God bless.” And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them… a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: “If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?”

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. “See you in the New Jerusalem,” he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will…

I will look for you there, Beloved. If you see something that reminds you of me (like maybe the moon?), please pray for me and everyone in the MBN.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service.
chick

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HAPPY ALOHA FRIDAY!

I believe this is the blossom of a Night-Blooming Cereus, a kind of cactus. It grows in our front yard. As you can see by the date, it bloomed near the end of July. The flowers last about 3 days, and then it just shrivels up and disappears. I don’t remember ever seeing a fruit or seed pod left behind. Maybe the vector – insect or bird or whatever – that is supposed to pollinate it just doesn’t live on Kauai.

The cactus itself is pretty much a green, lumpy stick about 3 ft high most of the year. Then, if conditions are right for about three days, it sports a spectacular blossom. The blossom is part of God’s plan for procreation of the species, but that doesn’t appear to be happening here. There are lots of things to think about when considering this cactus.

“Bloom where you’re planted” comes to mind. Even if the bloom doesn’t produce much? Well, it certainly is beautiful, and certainly evokes praise to God for creating such beauty, so I guess that’s a kind of unintended fruit. “Bloom in season” is another idea. This cactus doesn’t bloom year round; it just blooms when it can. So do I. How about you? I know we can force amaryllis and jonquil bulbs to blossom, but there’s no forcing this cactus, at least not in its natural state. But is Hawaii its natural state? Not really. Most of the species of this kind of cactus come from Costa Rica and Central America, so this one is a transplanted foreigner – haole – like me. I reckon I could be – probably have been – forced to bloom out of season, but I couldn’t tell you if, when, how, or why that happened. Most flowering plants bloom by day, some open in the morning and close at night for several days. Some bloom just for a day, but have hundreds of flowers. Some follow the sun; you and I also follow a Son. So many things to think about! What are you thinking about as you read this, as you look at this flower?

The more I contemplate this blossom, the more I realize how blessed I am to know it. And that reminds me how blessed I am to know YOU. You would not be receiving these messages if I did not know and love something about the way YOU bloom. God bless you, Beloved!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service…
chick