A couple of funny things...by Mark

Last week, one evening after supper I was outside hanging out with some of the kids. Adrian Tovar was here too. He is like a big kid so all the kids wanted to play a game with him. When they asked me if I wanted to play, I hesitated but said I would. I was not sure what the game was, but it sounded like Hide-and-Seek. Soon everybody was running and hiding, so I ran and hid too. I was crouched in a corner of the wood shed (formerly rabbit house, formerly chicken coop) waiting but hoping not to be discovered. The thought then occurred to me that I really did not know what game I was playing. I had not asked about rules, or who was "it," or what I should be doing. I could hear some of the kids running and calling out names. Nobody called my name. I then began to wonder if anyone really knew I was playing. I wondered if there was a base I was supposed to try to run to. I sat there for a few minutes and tried to see what was happening, thinking maybe I could figure it out by watching. This is a technique I use regularly, but I could not see enough from where I was. It began to sound like the game was breaking up, so I made my move. I did not want to give up my location because I might want it in the future, so I quietly made my way around the woodshed and headed up the hill. By this time Adrian was in the house. I still don't know exactly what happened, because I headed for home.
Our Chapel Christian characteristic this week is "cooperative." I told the story of my Hide-and-Seek adventure as we talked about living together in unity. Psalm 133:1 is our memory verse: "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity." It is impossible to live in unity if we do not all know and live by the rules. Fancy board games with lots of pieces are no fun if one of the players is not playing by the rules. Life, as part of a family or society, only works well when we all understand and follow the rules. The most important rules to follow are to love each other and love God. (Matt 22:37-40)

Another funny thing that happened this week was in our apartment. Sunday evening I wanted to print a wordsearch/coloring page for chapel Monday morning. It had just started to get dark, so lots of people had lights turned on. What this means is that there is a large load on the community's electrical system. As it gets dark we know we will not be able to run our desktop computer and the printer. I just needed a few copies so I thought I would try it. When I clicked the print button, our battery backup alarm started to beep, telling me it would shut down soon. I think the TV and DVD player were on too. The kids shut them off. I started looking for other things to shut off. The kids rooms were dark. Our room was dark. I turned off the lights in our main room where the computer is. The beeping stopped, and the printer kept printing. We sat in the dark for a couple of minutes with only the light from the monitor while the printer finished. The next day Lucy told me she was thinking about that experience and how we had to focus all the power on the computer and printer. None of the other things that were using electricity were bad, but they were using power we needed somewhere else. Of course she related that to how we can sometimes be distracted in life. We get busy doing things that we see as important, but somehow our focus shifts. Sometimes I need to remind myself not to worry about things, so the other day I had my Bible open to Matthew 6:33. If we keep focused on the Kingdom we will have the Power for all the necessary things that need to be done.

But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matt 6:33

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:14