Visitors

Yuli, Michelle, Samuel, and Elizabeth arrived Thursday evening for England. It's been a blast ever since. I'm exposing myself, however, as a poor cook. Too bad, but this is what you get if you come to visit me when I am alone. I make good bread, and I buy a lot of fruit. With that I hope all will find some semblance of satisfaction.

Elizabeth had her first birthday, yesterday, Sabbath. She also walked about six feet without falling. Yuli brought a cake that a friend baked all the way from England and shared it with the church at potluck. 'Lizabeth was quite happy to have "Happy Birthday" sung to her. Blowing the candle out was a total mystery to her. Her brother was very eager to help, except that no one would let him. Half a dozen adults (you'd think would know better) kept saying, way above a whisper, blow, blow, blow, but she couldn't compute.

Coincidentally, I preached on 1 Samuel chapter one. You remember, the story of Hannah and little Samuel. Hannah brought Samuel to the temple just after she weaned him, probably three years old, and there he was to "abide forever." 1 Samuel 1:22. At one point I asked Yuli to stand Samuel up on a church pew. The question to the congregation was: Now, do you think this three-year old boy is ready to leave home? Do you think his mother is ready to let him stay at Eden Valley with Uncle Frank? The tsi bougon (french for little Twirp) is just that, a little twirp. It must have been heart wrenching for Hannah to fulfill her vow to God. And that was the point of the whole sermon. Abiding in Christ is not a matter of doing like going to church on Sabbath, praying every morning and reading our Bibles, it is a matter of being. It's a decision that changes our whole lives. We can't be in and out of abiding. We must abide--live--in Christ forevermore. For some, it's a heart wrenching separation from a cherished lifestyle, but is what we vowed to do at our baptism. That is what we should endeavor to live up to.

Today, we took a trip to the Rocky Mountains--12,000 feet. We had a picnic up there and all was well until about half an hour from home. Elizabeth had had enough and let us know without let up and Mr. Samuel, star of yesterday's sermon, decided to get carsick and throw up all over himself. Oh well, everything can't be roses.

So says the Preacher to his tribe.