Summertime, Summertime, Summ, Summ, Summertime..... In case you haven't heard we're having a heat wave around these parts. So Sunny is blazin' this weekend! My goodness it's too hot to do much of anything. We attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday. At noon. In the sun. Oh boy. The bride and groom looked so happy; they probably didn't even realize it was melt-your-mascara hot out...
This morning I was on my way into church pretty early (to make sure our new cave was still together) and had one of those 'theology' moments. Well, that would be Grace's theology, so bear with me... I passed the luxury liner cruise bus loaded up with happy folks on their way to our local Harrah's for the day. (Harrah's is a local casino on a nearby Indian reservation. The law says it's o.k. to have gambling on Indian property.) Most of the local casinos have buses now. They've had them going a while, but with the gas prices they're just buzzing with new riders. It's a way to spend the day having oh so much fun and now you don't even have to pay for your own gas to use your money gambling...
So back to my theology moment:
When I was a little girl, we had this lady in our church named Sister Knizek. (I think I've got that right.) "Kuh-neez-ick" She had a big clunky car and every Sunday morning, she would load it up with all sorts of kids from her neighborhood and drive them into church. We never really got to know those kids, because she found different kids each week. I was too little to know if any of them actually became part of our church, but chances are some of them did. She did this for at least thirty years.
When I was away at college, Dad told me that Sister Knizek had passed away. He went to her funeral and it was well attended. The casket was the poorest quality casket he had ever seen and he said he felt horrible that no one knew these were the plans in place. It broke his heart. He always loved Sister Knizek.
You know where I'm going; I can tell. Sister Knizek invested her time, effort and every ounce of her energy in her love for God and children. Somehow, I don't think her casket meant one little bit to her. She knew where she was going and I am confident her accommodations are first class, with the buffet included.
Remember when churches had buses and vans and went out early on Sundays to pick up kids?
And just think, Harrah's buses are running every single day of the week...
5 comments:
In our area there is a baptist church that uses a big red bus that picks up kids for church on Sundays, Wednesdays and VBS. Pretty cool when you think that someone out there still does that.
Just thought I would share. You had a great theology moment. :)
Jed's dad was saved because a little old lady would come out to his family farm every sunday to invite them to church...One day, his dad finally accepted the invitation. After that day, the family slowly followed suit with Grandpa getting saved last and finally giving up his Friday booze. To this day, when Jed's father speaks, he notes that when we all get to heaven there will be a long parade of people who were saved all because this little old lady was willing to spend her time inviting the farm kids to church... And who will be at the head of the parade? That little old lady of course!
Isn't it sad when my first thought would be, "who would let their kids get in a car or on a bus with people they didn't know in these days?"
Oh my Grace, what a wonderful post! My church has one small bus which picks up elderly folks at an assisted living place - a NICE assisted living place. And I'm in a big church - 2000+ members. A nearby church has a bus ministry that picks up over 500 children every single Sunday with volunteer drivers and a fleet of older school buses. What a ministry! Blessings, marlene
THANKS, I NEEDED THAT Pastor Grace!
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