Sour Driver's License

We had KidPak this morning and it was an interesting morning to say the least.  We were doing our "At the Movies" messages upstairs with the grown-ups, so we did the same thing downstairs, but our choice of movie was "Oz the Great and Powerful."  The first service turned out really well.  Again, it's amazing that I wrote this message over a year ago during the quarantine, and I wrote it with a movie message in mind.  Meaning, it's the type of message that we play movie clips during the sermon to help illustrate points.  And it just so happens that this message fit right now with the "At the Movies" theme the entire church was going in, and at just the right time.  I always had this message in mind for the fourth one, and here it is at just the right time.  The first service was really well, and I did get a lot of people coming up to me afterwards saying how strong of a message it was.

Unfortunately, during the second service, a child threw up right there in the front row, right there in the middle, and that was pretty much it for the service.  I led a short prayer and got everyone out of there.  But I got to use the phrase, "Everyone please exit through the vomitorium."  It was actually a pretty good punchline, even if I was one of the only people who knew what the word actually meant.

A few years ago, the word "vomitorium" became a popular churchy word for some reason.  It's basically the little exit hallways that lead out of an auditorium or an arena or amphitheater.  It's a word the Romans used, and I just looked this up, it has nothing to do with vomit.  That's a popular misconception.  No, the Romans didn't use this location to throw up.  They used these little hallways to just exit the arenas.  No one got sick there.  It just sounds like it!

Anyway, for a time, all the church staff people all over at these larger churches were using this term, and I remember hearing it frequently, and thinking, "There is no way I can say or hear that word without thinking of someone throwing up."  Yet it persisted, and it was so funny listening to people say the word "vomitorium" with a straight face.  It's either an incredible dead-pan joke, or yes, they're really using this word and not expecting people to think of vomit.  How can anyone use this word with a straight face?  Eventually, I used the word a time or two, but only for a snicker or two.  Anyway, this morning, it just fit perfectly.

MOVING ON!  We got home, and yeah, I was resting.  No one got sick.  And watching some of the Olympics too, of course.  Mom had lunch for us, and soon enough, we were back at the church again with FCY.  I'm super busy right now, because tomorrow is the start of something big, what we're calling "Summer Xtreme Nights."  I dropped Maddie off at FCY, and went downstairs to work on scripts and everything else I could for our KidPak event this week (while having a window on the computer open to watch the men's cycling road race in Japan!).  

They're still in the series "Sour" upstairs with the youth, and it's going well.  This one has been more impactful than any others, and Maddie has really been enjoying it.  There was a photo op that Maddie posed for, one with her on a big driver's license.  Kind of good timing on that one.  She's going to need a pretty large wallet for this one though:

We got home later, and we were wiped out.  But we had time to read, and time to pray.  And then... it was time for bed!