Lessons for Everyday Life: Matthew Chapter 14 -- Isaac's Commentary . . . .

This past Sunday, Isaac and his classmates learned (via flannel board) the story of the feeding of the five thousand. They all listened well, and afterward answered my questions about the story, while coloring their little pages with pictures of fishes and loaves.

This evening as I was picking tomatoes out of the garden, Isaac asked if he could have a particular tomato that apparently impressed him. He carried it around for a while, licked it, bit into it, then laid it on the porch for later. His little sister soon spotted it and snatched it off the porch. When Isaac saw his tomato in her grubby little hands, he nearly had a meltdown. "NOOOOOOOOO Izzy!!!!" I stopped him. "Hey!", I said, "It's OK! You can share it. We have more." For a split second, he almost continued, but suddenly, his tiny face changed, revealing the big connection that had just been made in his mind. "Oh. I can share. And God and Jesus. And Jesus said we can share food! I can share food." He was recalling the lesson he had learned about Jesus asking the little boy to share his food with everyone, and how Jesus was pleased when he did so. Isaac stopped throwing his fit and graciously accepted when Isabel came to him and handed over his tomato.

"Isaac!", I praised him, "You are such a good boy. You are a good listener!" It's little moments like this that make my mommy heart soar. I've been so proud of Isaac lately for doing so many grown-up, responsible things, like getting his own drink of water and making his bed. But this tops them all. I know that he is approaching an age when the Spirit is going to be stirring in him. He actually applied a biblical principle to his life for the very first time. He knew that he should share, because Jesus said to. And that's enough.

Critter Wranglin'

We do a lot of that out here. Mike was moving hay in the barn and we came across a fat, black snake coiled up between bales. We didn't hesitate to see if it was a ratsnake or a cotton mouth (we have a lot of those since we're right by the creek), so we immediately went for the kill. Mike and I pulled it out as it was trying to slither down into the bales. It struck at us, and Mike asked "do you want to do this?" I really did, LOL. So he traded me the t-post for the shovel I was holding (it wasn't heavy enough) and I got rid of the stinkin' thing.







It was a good 5 feet long, as you can see. I checked its markings and went inside and checked my trusty snake website, http://oksnakes.org/. It turned out to be a black ratsnake. It was harmless and would've eaten rodents for us, but oh well. I'd rather not risk a cotton mouth hanging around in the barn where us and the kids are frequently, and where the goats go for shelter and hay. Snakes found in the barn will go without question. There turned out to be a good reason to eliminate him after all;




This momma banty was nesting just a few bales away and that mean old snake would've eaten her precious little eggs. Mike found her behind some bales. When he moved them and even raked around her, she never so much as flinched. Funny, because when I was working in the barn this spring I came upon her unknowingly and she chased me for getting too close to her newly-hatched brood. :-)

An Awesome Ministry

Isaac attended a VBS this week at the little church just down the road. A group from Dallas, TX comes here every year and puts on a VBS for local kids at this church. They went door to door and invited all the neighborhood kids, and even went and picked them up in vans they brought with them. What an awesome ministry! This group of young people comes year after year to a rural area with small churches that don't have the manpower or financial resources to do a VBS, and evangelize to all these young kiddos. They brought EVERYTHING with them! It was so great! They were such an enthusiastic and sweet bunch of young people. Isaac had a great time and I was told that he was quite popular and entertaining, LOL. That sounds like typical Isaac . . . he's a stage ham. ;-) He came home with a really cool t-shirt and some awesome crafts, and he loved his classes, Jesus songs, and all his new friends. Praise God for this group of young people who blessed this community!