$10,000 PYRAMID

The title of this blog tells my age.  I think it is now the $100,000 Pyramid.

Our Sunday School class is studying the Book of Esther.  If you like a good mystery, this is the book for you.  Who done it?  Secrets!  Lies and hate.  This book has it all.  How will it end?  Will the good Queen save the day?

We were ready to begin chapter four.  The lesson was prepared.  I had answered the questions and had thrown in a few extra.  Hey, I don’t want the class to be too easy.  Hubby and I were headed to church when, WHAM!  An idea on how to start the class:  A game show.  It is a good thing I was not driving.  I would have had to pull over.  When an idea hits ……

Using the $10,000 or $100,000 Pyramid as the game show of choice, I started hitting the keys.  The category:  THINGS THEY THINK.

I hate the Jews

I hate Mordecai

The King has no idea

This ring gives me power

(Answer 1)

I didn’t think he would go this far

He is evil

Should I have bowed

This is my fault

Will Esther help

(Answer 2)

Is this why I never told the king I was Jewish

Mordecai is asking a lot

Is this why I am the Queen

If I die, I die

(Answer 3)

You looked on down to the answers didn’t you?  Anyway, it was a fun way to start and generated a discussion on what would they have been thinking and feeling.

The Book of Esther is named after , duh, Esther.  A young, beautiful orphan.  Orphan… that immediately tells you she has suffered the loss of her parents and we learned she was raised by her cousin, Mordecai.  After Queen Vashti disappeared from the scene, the king got a bit lonely.  He wanted a Queen, so a search was made for a replacement.  There was no long list of qualifications.  The candidate had to be beautiful and a virgin.  Young Esther fit the bill and was taken to the palace.  That gives you the cliff notes for how the book begins.  You can read to find out the rest of the story.

The point of this week’s blog is that Esther had no idea what was going to happen.  Would she become queen?  Why had Mordecai told her not to tell anyone that she was Jewish?  And why was Haman so hateful?  Esther had no idea, but she trusted Mordecai and took his advice.  

She trusted.  Part of the class discussion has been on who to trust and why do we trust them?  Is it their reputation for honesty?  Is it a person we respect?  If so, why do we respect that person?  If you are in need of advice, where do you turn?  To the town gossip?  To someone who will hold your conversation private?  Do you take their advice?

The Book of Esther is a mystery with turns and twists in the plot.  BUT it is also a story of trust.  It is a short book.  Won’t take you long and it is so much more than the story of a beautiful queen which you heard in Sunday School all those years ago.  

ANSWERS:

1 — THINGS HAMAN THINKS

2 — THINGS MORDECAI THINKS

3 — THINGS ESTHER THINKS

 SUMMER

 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.”  And it was so.  

     Genesis 1:14-15

Are there words that make images pop into your mind?  Summer does that for me.  I remember  --- School’s out and summer begins.  We were free!!  Free to wonder around town.  We either walked or rode our bikes. 

The school yard (where I went the first four years) was only one block away.  There was a baseball diamond, of sorts, and we played pickup games.  I never was a good pitcher, but I could whack a ball.  As a matter of fact, I hit one that went through one of the school windows.  That was the end of playing ball there.

The swimming pool was 23 blocks away.  Yes, it was!  I looked up my home town and counted the blocks.  Usually there was my sister(s), neighbor kids, and me, walking barefoot and carrying our towel, 23 blocks to go to the pool.  It was a really unique pool and to swim cost a whopping 25¢.  It sure did cool us down.  Until we had to walk those 23 blocks back home.

My dad thought I would never learn to ride a bike, but I did finally get rid of the training wheels.  Once that happened, every corner of town was fair game.  We would ride across town to play Monopoly.  Or to sit under a tree and talk.  Or swoon over the latest movie star. 

My mother figured a way to enjoy her summer.  There were four of us kids and I do not think we were ever home at the same time.  We rotated spending a week with grandma and then started through the aunts and uncles.  By the time we returned home, mom would ship us off to see grandma again. 

And that is where the best memories are from.  There was no telephone, except the one on the wall that rang longs and shorts and we were not allowed to use it.  It was a party line and grandma said she didn’t want us listening to those gossips.  There was no television, but we didn’t have one at home either, so that was no biggie.  There were the best sugar cookies ever and a toaster where you had to open the sides and turn the bread to toast the other side.  Strange.  There was a door that folded in the middle and a room we were never to enter.  Apparently, the room was over the cistern or something and if we fell through the floor we would drown and die.  Yes, every grandchild went in that room at some time or other.  It had really neat old stuff.

There was only one problem with going to grandma’s and various aunts and uncles.  They all had out-houses!  Enough said.

What image do I see today when I think of summer?  AIR CONDITIONING!!

 TIME

Time -  Time is such a precious gift.  How do we use our time and who is in control of our time?

Before I retired, my bosses were in control of much of my time.  I had no control of when auctions were scheduled.  I also worked for Bill.    Farm reports had to be done.  Appraisals had to be done.  I worked when my bosses told me to work.  

Family uses a big chunk of our time.  Being a spouse takes time.  We had two children and, believe me, they controlled a very large amount of my time.  For some unknown reason, they expected to be fed and taken care of:  baths, play time, nap time, little league games and band concerts.  Not to mention clean clothes.  And the  late night use of my time because, as I was tucking them in bed, they remembered they needed cookies for school the next day.  

Often, others control so much of our time, there is no time left for ourselves.  Time that is required — work and family — devours the seconds, minutes, and hours of our day until the only time we have to read is while we are waiting for band practice to get out.

Time -  Time is such a precious gift.  How do we use our time and who is in control of our time?

Yes, work consumes our time.  That is not a bad thing unless it robs us of time for family.

Yes, family consumes our time.  That is not a bad thing unless it robs us of time for friends.

Yes, friends consume our time.  That is not a bad thing unless it robs us of time to help others by volunteering.

Yes, volunteering consumes our time.  That is not a bad thing unless it robs us of time to …..

This line of reasoning can go on and on but I hope it will get you to thinking about how you use your time.   Time is a precious gift.  Use it wisely.

PS. I did not forget to put in time for prayer and worship.  I hope you picked up on how easily our time slips away and we use the excuse, “I didn’t have time to read this week’s Sunday School lesson or attend worship service or help at VBS or even pray.  I didn’t have time for God.”  Time is precious.  Do you use it wisely?

 D-DAY

D-Day — 80 years later.  We watched parts of the D-Day service and other programs.  One survivor made the statement, “All were willing to stand up.  Not all came back.”  Another said, “I am not a hero.  I did my job.”

In my mind they were all heroes.  There are so many heroes during war.  There are the ones who step up, even if they were too young.  Survivors told about young men, who lied about their age, just to join the Army or the Navy….  They stood up.

Survivors told about the person who was first to step into the water.  They were often a part of those who did not come back.  They stood up.

Survivors … isn’t that a beautiful word?  Some of those survivors sat in front of 25 heads of state and 4,500 spectators.  Approximately 150-200 American survivors attended the ceremonies, while survivors, from other countries, attended ceremonies in different locations.  Survivors… isn’t that a beautiful word?

But many did not survive.  For those back home, the sight of military men walking toward their door, was the beginning of a journey they did not want to take.  But the parents, spouses, children, family, and friends stood up. They were also heroes.

Allied troops, on this day, stood up and turned the war around.  

They went on to defeat the hate and brutality of the Nazi army.  They fought.  Way too many died.  But isn’t the word survivors a beautiful word?

D-Day — 80 years ago — They stood up.  They are heroes.

Thank you and may I have even a small portion of the courage it took, on that day, to step into the water and face a very strong enemy.  I humbly say, “Thank you.”