Nuggets Along the Trail: 10-10-10 LifeFlight

Monday, October 11, 2010

10-10-10 LifeFlight

Today was a bit different because I helped teach Jewel’s Sunday school class in the morning. I enjoyed my time downstairs. Dad had the verse in the big room, and he spoke about James 4:14 which says life is a vapor and there is no promise of tomorrow. He was speaking at 10:10:10 on 10-10-10 which was unique because it only happens 12 times in a century: 01-01-01, 02-02-02, 03-03-03, etc. That one minute, 10:10, is so fleeting, like a vapor, and each minute is filled with choices strung together which all affect our future. For example, choose to play ball instead of study for a test, and you might flunk your test tomorrow. Choose not to take out the trash, and your house will stink tomorrow (or in a few tomorrows). When God calls us to serve him, we have to make the most important choice we’ll ever make; the choice we make will affect not only our tomorrow but also our lives 100 years from now. Our soul will be alive, and we’ll be in heaven or hell, depending on the choice that we make today. 1000 years ago it was 10-10-1010; a person alive then is still somewhere now: heaven or hell. The mind-boggling thought is that, whether in heaven or hell for 1000 years, that 1000 years is still a vapor compared to eternity. Eternity NEVER ends. NEVER is a long time, and we can hardly comprehend it. I hope and pray that our children and all those children in that room downstairs and all those who haven’t yet chosen to serve God will make that choice today. Because life is a vapor and there’s no promise of tomorrow.

Leann was the substitute for Jewel’s class, and we read about Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. I enjoyed being with the children; they were all so sweet and attentive. I was impressed with how well they listened and knew all the questions to last week’s story. Those little minds are like sponges, absorbing everything that’s said and goes on. They colored and helped with a craft project before we cleaned up everything and sang a few songs.

The afternoon readings were Luke 2 and II Timothy 1. My TakeAway was in II Timothy 1:7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Sometimes when I’m driving the van full of kids, my mind can run away with what ifs…what if I go in the ditch, what if I run a stop sign, etc. I know it can happen, because accidents happen, but I certainly don’t need to fear and worry about it. That spirit of fear is not from God and must be resisted; Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

On the way home from church we saw a fire vehicle with lights flashing in the ballpark across from Aunt Sarah’s house, and I remembered that I’d heard some children talking about the fire station open house this afternoon. We spontaneously decided to go, and found that everyone was walking back to the ballpark. Joining the throng, we watched as the LifeFlight helicopter landed; when Aunt Sarah got home she loaned me her camera so I even got some pictures. We thoroughly enjoyed our brief field trip before heading home to a nap for Joshua, chores for kids, and a walk for Dad and I. We barely got chores done when Kaisers started arriving; Aunt Marj had a friend from Bloomington who took many pictures, the main goal being one of the entire Kaiser family, all 52 (?not sure of that number) of us. Aunt Sarah came out to help keep fingers out of noses and faces turned toward the camera; she used her camera (since it was here and she knows it better) to take candid and posed pictures the whole time too. Thanks ASK! THEN, we had pizza and a fun evening at Grandpa Kaiser’s before coming home and heading to beds.

Joshua was SO CUTE and excited …he kept saying, “Pane, pane, pane.”

Kate was impressed with how small the working area was in the helicopter. The Plattners were there too, and Jolene jumped in with Kate.

I’m not sure why these pictures are so fuzzy. Perhaps ASK has an idea? I’m posting them in the order in which they were taken: candid mixed with posed.