Tennis Recital

Giddyup!  Here's Daddy's character for the Tribes series that's been going on the last few years.  I say "Daddy's character," because he's the one I do the vocal work for.  This year's efforts have been surprisingly draining, as there's been a bit more emotion behind the character than the standard yelling "Yee-haw" and so forth.  He's still a bit one-dimensional and childlike, but that pretty much is my personality anyway, so there you go!

Things are gearing up for Summer Xtreme in a big way, as we concentrate on graphics, movies, animations, paperwork, preparations, and so forth.  Today was a big day for handouts and parent communication, meeting preparations as well.

For Madison, it was a big day of tennis again.  Thankfully there's no "tennis recital," as Madison's other classes have a recital this week - ballet and piano.  Lots of practice taking place for both right now, and of course scheduling and costuming.  But nothing like that with tennis is taking place, the only requirement being that we show up and watch her play.

Daddy couldn't do that today, but Mommy did, and she said that Madison did very well.  We'll have to keep up the tennis practice over the summer at the local court, although there is a tennis camp that Madison is signed up for.

Tonight's service went well, but once again Madison was not there.  We keep her home on Wednesday nights because of the early hour she has to rise to go to school.  But that will change in a few weeks, as she doesn't have to worry about getting up for school in two weeks.  Yes, school has just one more week to go, which is one of those bittersweet moments for a parent.  Here's the part where we wonder where all the time has gone?  We do that a lot on this blog, but that's what parents do.  Madison can't wait for each new day though - she gets up like that cowboy above, rip-roarin' and ready to go!

Daddy is rip-roarin' and ready to go too.  Summer is here, and we're anxious to be seeing a lot and doing a lot.  The weather sort of does that to you a bit - the weather is warmer, and we're ready to get out of the house more.  We're ready to accomplish more, wanting to fix the house up and do more yard work outside.  Madison wants us to exercise more too - Daddy told her that we'd all live longer if we exercise our hearts more.  He told her to remind us to exercise more, and so she's been doing that, almost like a way of saying hello and goodbye each time we meet.

"Goodbye, Daddy. Don't forget to exercise!"

We have been doing a lot more lately - for example, the fig trees in the back yard are gone.  Or, at least in the process of going.  This has taken a lot of effort, the end result has been a sore back for Daddy.  We'll be seeing the chiropractor on Friday about that.  But the trees are going to be really gone when Ye-Ye arrives with a chainsaw soon.  We've been lugging the new kindling off to a place in the woods,  but the effect has already been dramatic:  our back yard is quite a bit bigger now.  We might even have more grass back there soon.  These things have taken a lot of real estate up, and the way they've creeped upward into the back yard has been quite aggressive.  The problem is that they don't produce any real fruit.  You'd think in three years with three huge fig trees in the back yard that we'd have some big crop or something.  Not so much though, and so we followed a more Biblical example and cursed the fig trees for not producing out of season.  Or in season.  We don't really like figs anyway, do we?  I mean, I think we all like fig newtons, but that's about it.  Anyway, our landscape is going to look great this year - we need a bigger yard for Madison, and for us.  Mommy even dreams of having a gazebo back there some day.  That would be nice.   Also nice would be the removal of all the poison ivy back there - it creeps me out.  Mommy has a severe reaction to that sort of thing, so on tap is an epic battle of man vs. ivy.  We've got spray, and we shall overcome.

Tonight's message, by the way, is about another Tribe of Israel.  It has nothing to do with poison ivy.  But it does have to do with the Tribe of Dan.  As we close out, here's the basic points about a tribe I wish I could have written something more positive about:

Bad Judgment

     The tribe of Dan means “judge.” You’d think they’d be “as wise as a serpent,” which was their tribe’s emblem. But that serpent might have instead represented all the trouble this tribe seemed to cause. In fact, the prophecy over Dan said he’d be a serpent by the side of the road, ready to bite! This might be a reference to his troublemaking days, planning some of the suffering for his brother Joseph. It certainly came to pass that Dan caused some trouble. Judge for yourself!

     Israel’s prophecy said that Dan would judge its people. This may have been prophetic because as a Tribe, the people of Dan were off on their own, and acting as their own judge, and doing what they thought was right in their own eyes. But the truth is this: we have a judge, and it isn’t us. It’s God! When we pray to Him and read His word, we’ll have good judgment of what to do in life.

     Need some help judging what to do next? Ask yourself, what Tribe are you with? Samson was the most famous member of the Tribe of Dan. But history shows he hung out with the wrong people. Remember Delilah? Cute girl – bad judge of character!

     But that was one of the Tribe’s biggest problems: It was always closest to the wrong sorts of people. To begin with, there were the Philistines. That brought nothing but trouble! Even back in Egypt, the Tribe of Dan was mingling with the Egyptians. This might explain the golden calf you could find in Dan’s territory many, many years later.

     You have to watch who you spend time with, but you also have to watch your idol time! Samson only called on God when he thought he needed Him – the rest of his time was spent devoted elsewhere. That was just the thing about the Tribe of Dan. Want to hear a case of bad judgment? Check this out: They knew God was kind of important, so what did they do? They literally stole a high priest from someone’s house, and then went on to steal some idols for him to lead worship with. Then they went on to invade a peaceful place in the northern part of Israel. That’s when the Tribe of Dan sunk even lower. Talk about bad judgment!

     If you’re looking for role models, perhaps it’s best to look towards another tribe. But in looking at the Tribe of Dan, we can all learn a thing or two. We can learn to avoid bad company and idol time. We can learn to avoid bad judgment!