Area Pastor's Silly Menagerie of Toy Animals
Stolen A Second Time
Yes, the little collection of toy animals
that was outside our church is now gone, apparently for good. A
family that occasionally attends our church had a family reunion at our
facility on Saturday. We like to make our building available for people
in the community. Sunday morning when I arrived before dawn, the
headlights of my car shone upon an empty rock.
The last time this collection
disappeared, I found them in the building. This time they were nowhere
to be found. Perhaps some child attending the family reunion took them
home to love them and play with them. That's what children often
do when they find toys laying around outside.
And after all, isn't that what toys are for?
I found that I wasn't the least bit
sad about it. They appeared mysteriously, and I still have no idea how
they got there. And now they have disappeared just as mysteriously.
Really, wouldn't life be dreary if you didn't have a little mystery now
and again?
And what kind of a church would we be if we didn't notice and love the little mysteries of life along with the big ones?
Laity Lodge
I'm heading to the "hill country," as the area north of San Antonio is called, for a retreat at Laity Lodge.
Laity Lodge is a wonderful place, and the big news is that
the featured speaker is none other than one of my personal heros,
Frederick Dale Bruner. Bruner wrote a two-volume commentary on the
gospel of Matthew that I adore. It is the only commentary that has
brought me to tears. Yes, it's that good. I'm thrilled that Eerdmans has brought it back into print.
Dale Bruner is one of three or four
people that I am trying to meet and thank sometime in my life. His
writing has meant so much to me that I want to thank him in person. Next on my list, Annie Dillard and Anne Lamott. I'm less confident that I will meet either of them, but a guy can wish, right?
Anyway, I'll be gone until the
weekend. No email, no real live preacher, no mobile phone. Just me, pen
and paper, prayer, reading, and conversations with new friends.
See you when I return.
rlp
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