Sunday, June 18, 2017

Father's Day 2017

We started out the day at church, yes back to church again.  This has been home lately!  Today's message was about Quicksilver, who is one of Madison's favorite random Marvel characters.  I think it's the fact that he's got a sister, and the two hang out together and stuff.  She likes to hear about that sort of thing, about them going on shopping trips or vacations at the beach - these are the types of stories she likes to hear.

Anyway, the message was fine, although the use of the name Quicksilver was more of a draw to get everyone's attention.  The real hero of the day was a man named Elijah, a prophet who at one point could run pretty fast.  Here's the description of the message for today:


     Quicksilver and the Flash are very fast superheroes, but they just live in comics and movies! If you want to really read about the fastest person around, look no further than your Bible. In 1 Kings, chapter 18, it says that the power of God came on the prophet Elijah, and he outraced a king’s chariot! Now that’s fast!
     Our Bibles are filled with heroes, but one of the greatest of the Old Testament would have to be Elijah. He was quick on his feet – but he was quick elsewhere too. And if we’re quick in these areas too, we’ll find ourselves on the fast track to an amazing adventure with God!
Firstly, we have to be quick to obey. Elijah wouldn’t be half the hero he was unless he was completely obedient to God. He took a huge risk going to see King Ahab, but right after he did so, the people of the land were saved from famine.
     You probably won’t be threatened with death, but God is challenging you to help save those around you. There are people suffering and in need! Will you obey His call to be a hero today?
If so, you have to be quick to make a stand. No matter what the world around us thinks, we have to choose, and choose wisely. Elijah gave the people a choice, one that still exists today: Who will you serve? There are many voices that want to pull you away, but don’t fall for it. As Elijah showed us, real power and salvation comes from our Heavenly Father only.
     When you choose and trust in Him, like Elijah, you can be quick to believe. God showed up big, and blasted Elijah’s offering from above with an explosion of fire that got all the people crying out, “The Lord – He is God!” And even afterwards, Elijah heard the sound of a mighty rainstorm long before anyone could see it. Seven times Elijah sent his servant out to look towards the sea for rain. Six times, there was nothing. Yet Elijah had faith. The God who brought fire down from the sky would bring rain. And sure enough, when the heavy rains began to fall, the power of God came on Elijah, and he ran ahead of King Ahab, outracing a chariot back to town! You want to talk about fast? Because of Elijah’s heroism, over the course of one day people began to believe again, and their land was healed once more.
     Now that’s fast! But that’s Elijah for you, the fastest human in history. You can be a speedster like Elijah too, a hero of amazing boldness, witnessing firsthand the firepower of God! All you have to do is be quick to obey, quick to choose, and quick to believe. 

The morning's service went well, although as you can imagine, the staff and some volunteers were pretty worn out.  It was Father's Day, so we had a bit of that in there as well.  The church had bottles of coke, boiled peanuts and beef jerky for all the dads.  Because apparently this is what dads like?  The thought was nice though!  Daddy can't really have any of that at the moment, due to the continued digestive issues that are plaguing him.

We got home after church, and Mommy had a feast waiting for us!  It's Father's Day, and there were ears of corn, watermelon, and grilled fish with lemons on top, along with other foods as well.  It was delicious.  And there were a few gifts too.


I got my first Father's Day tie, which is one of those things that seems to be a standard for Father's Day:  a new tie.  This one was cool, and much appreciated:  a Captain America tie.  But also, there was a new book for Daddy, the tenth and possibly last book in the Kingdom Keepers series.  That'll make for some reading on the beach.

Mommy and Daddy called our fathers too - we passed along books, gifts and so forth, as well as our love and wishes for a great day.  Then Daddy did what all dads hopefully got to do today:  rest.  It was a quick afternoon nap, followed by an early viewing of one of our Superflix movies:  "Big Hero 6."  We'll be doing a message on that one for sure.  We had the popcorn made and were all set up on the couch, watching yet another movie together.

And then it was off to bed a little early once more.  The reasoning here is simple:  there's another camp starting in the morning.  Madison is returning to art camp tomorrow, and really looking forward to it.  Mommy has her t-shirt from last year out and ready to wear tomorrow.  We said our prayers, read from the devotional, and then read some more about Squirrel Girl before driving off to sleep.  To quote Tippy Toe the squirrel: "chck-tchk!"

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