This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces.
This week the theme is "Funny,Silly Faces. This photo was taken on a cruise. The cruise photographer would go around from table to table with this guy dressed as a pirate. He would put his plastic sword to your throat, and then the photographer would take your picture. When he got to Buckaroo, well you can see what happened. Everyone at the table smiled.
My pet entry is a photo of my cat, Moses, helping me with my Bible study. When I get my Bible and books out, he can't resist laying on them.
This afternoon Gina and I took my Mom to see the Junior Ouachita Little Theatre play "The Outsiders". I was especially interested in seeing the play because it was directed by Erik Owens. I have known Erik for over 10 years and was especially proud of him and the young cast of "The Outsiders". Here is a photo of him taken in 2004 when he was one of the Pathfinders that went with the Mena Wildcats Pathfinder Club to the Faith On Fire Camporee held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Erik is on the Junior Ouachita Little Theatre board and has acted in numerous Little Theatre productions including a key role as Perchik in "Fiddler On The Roof". This is his first time to direct, and he did an awesome job.
The actors, stage hands, lighting techs, and sound techs are all young people high school age and younger. This ambitious group of young people put on a terrific show.
This is the way Erik describes "The Outsiders". "It is a tragic story about teen gangs in the 1960's with all of the drama that occurs when the rich and the poor kids who live and go to school in close proximity, bump up against each other. The authenticity of the story is undeniable, as the author. S.E. Hinton, who went on to have a career in writing books, plays,and movies for young people, was herself a high school senior when she wrote it."
Here are some photos that I took of the performance. It gave me a chance to try out the ISO 3200 setting on my new camera. I was quite pleased at the photos taken in such low light.
The past week Gina and I have been helping with Vacation Bible School at our church. I had absolutely the best job. I spent each evening taking video and pictures. I didn't have to prepare, I just showed up and followed the kids around taking pictures. I got lots of great shots because all of the kids wanted their picture taken.
Gina prepared snacks for all of the kids and adults every night. I helped her by faithfully eating what she prepared each evening.
The theme for VBS this year was The Kingdom of the Son, which used the Lord’s Prayer as the cornerstone of each night’s program. From the Lord’s Prayer, the children learned that God listens, provides, forgives, protects, and rules. A video skit at the start of each program provided a foundation that was built upon as each age group went to their Bible story time, where they learned the nights Bible story in depth; and their Nature center time where they learned about an animal from the Serengeti in Africa. After games, snacks and crafts everyone returned for the closing exercises where they reviewed what they had learned that night and received prizes and giveaways.
Vacation Bible Schools are offered by many churches during the summer months. The origins of VBS go back to the 1870s when the Methodist Episcopal Church began conducting summer Sunday school. In 1894 in Hopedale, Illinois, Ms. D.T. Miles started a summer Bible school class for school-age children. Her first Bible school met at a local public school, lasted for four weeks, and had 40 students.
In 1898 Eliza Hawes, director of the children's department at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City, started an "Everyday Bible School" for slum children at a rented beer parlor in New York's East Side. Hawes continued her efforts for seven years.
Dr. Robert Boville of the Baptist Mission Society, became aware of the Hawes' summer program and recommended it to other Baptist churches. Boville established a handful of summer schools which were taught by students at the Union Theological Seminary. By 1922, he had founded the World Association of Daily Vacation Bible Schools and thousands of children were attending summer Vacation Bible School classes throughout the country.
Last year an estimated 5 million children attended Vacation Bible School. Our attendance was only twentysomething. With twenty or so kids, you can really get to know them. For the Friday night closing ceremonies I made a slideshow to show on the big screen. The kids loved seeing themselves.
It's time again For ABC Wednesday. If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday, you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "C". C is for children. This week our church is holding it's Vacation Bible School. VBS is for children. The kids are having a great time as you can tell from these photos.
VBS is from 6:00 to 8:30 each evening this week. Gina is preparing the snacks each evening, and my difficult job is taking pictures. I know we will have a great week.
A few years ago my friend Richie Owens spent a year of his life writing and recording an album. I remember his enthusiasm as he would bring me new songs to listen to. Songs just seemed to pour out of him as he focused on this project. One of my favorite songs that he wrote was titled "Like A Child". Richie ended up choosing the song as the title track of the album. Here are the lyrics
I remember the story from when I was young Where Jesus was teaching one day And there were some little ones come to see Him But the men tried to send then away Little did they know this gentle young man Was the one by whom all things were made He decided to make an example of them To explain something He had to say
Let them come unto Me For such is the kingdom of God Come ye also like them For unless you do you'll be lost We have to trust fully in Him, not ourselves Rely on his word before anything else We can grow great in stature In wisdom and health, undefiled But be like a child
These are hard words in the world which we live When dog eat dog's putting it mild 'cause some of the things Jesus asked us to do With this world just can't be reconciled But we know he has made the way for us And we know he has conquered the grave And we know that His grace is sufficient So that all who will can hear Him say
Children come unto Me For yours is the kingdom of God You have conquered the world For you followed My staff and My rod You trusted fully in Me not yourselves You relied on My word before anything else And you never grew to big to stay in My arms All the while...Welcome home, child
The other day as I was listening to the album (it is still one of my favorites) I started thinking about what Jesus actually meant in Matthew 18:2 - "Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven".
That really is a blunt statement. If I don't become as a little child I will not be saved. It is very important that I understand what Jesus meant. My salvation depends on it. As I was considering this question, an important characteristic of little children came to mind.
One characteristic of little children is that they look up to the adults around them, especially parents. They don’t want to be left alone. They feel secure when they are with their parents. That is the way a Christian should feel about God. We should want to be with God.
In our relationship with God, we adults are in the same position as our children, except that we don’t know it. We sometimes behave as if we are running our lives, and that we are in control. We feel capable, and sometimes to such an extent that we feel we don’t really need God.
We need to know, that we are not in control. Like a child, we should always be looking up to someone for security and for help. We need to remind ourselves that we cannot handle life with our own wisdom or capabilities. In Proverbs 3:5,6 the Bible tells us "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
This childlike quality was brought home to me recently by a story that my daughter told me about my granddaughter. While my granddaughter was attending Vacation Bible School, one of the activities that she was involved in was making a scroll like people used in Bible times. When she finished her scroll she told her teacher,"this is for Jesus. I'll give it to him when he comes to pick me up".
That is the kind of childlike faith that we all need to have. We are just waiting for Jesus to come pick us up so we can go home, and we have no doubts that he will be here soon.
Here is a slideshow that I put together with the Richie Owens song "Like A Child".
Today, Gina was given the Volunteer Of The Year Award at the annual Rotary Club banquet. About a month ago we were invited to attend the banquet. I knew that Gina was going to receive the award, but they asked that I keep it a secret from Gina. It was a nice surprise.
The banquet was held at Mena Mountain Resort. I had not been to the Resort before today, and I was very impressed. Mena Mountain Resort is one of the best-kept secrets in Western Arkansas, their brand-new facility offers the type of fine amenities you would only expect to find in a luxury resort. It's not the kind of thing we have ever seen before in Mena. Construction began in January 2006 and was completed in the spring of 2009. The resort consists of a total of 15 guest suites, a clubhouse, pavilion and pool. Also on the property is a 3 bedroom cottage with full kitchen, large living area, and a private fenced yard. Here is a view of the balcony from one of the suites.
After a very nice meal provided by the resort, The yearly awards were given out. Each year the Rotary club honors a Volunteer of the Year, a Citizen of the Year, and a Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Gina was honored for her work with Relay For Life.
Back in March Gina was asked to give a talk to the Rotary Club about Relay For Life. She had to be out of town that day, so I gave the talk. The club members were very receptive. You can read about it here. While Gina was at the banquet today she did some recruiting for Relay For Life. It is amazing how much work it can be to put on an 18 hour event. I am so proud that Gina is passionate about helping others. That is just one of the reasons that I love her. Congratulations Gina on your Volunteer of the Year Award!!
