It's all Bill's fault. Bill usually comes into The Word Shop on Wednesday mornings and parks til mid-afternoon. He rode the rails as a teen in the 30's, settled in Santa Cruz and worked in the canneries until he retired. He brings us things: garden tomatoes, a beautiful tapestry of the last supper, Halloween toys and a gum ball machine.
The gumball machine does not take coins. Flick the switch and an indeterminate number of balls roll out. Sometimes one, sometimes four, sometimes none. I set it out on the window sill where the neighborhood children promptly discovered it, obviously determined to clean it out as fast as possible. I brought it back inside.
Now the school bus disgorges six children who come directly into the store. We have been working out gumball rules for weeks. Sharing is encouraged. Lying is frowned upon. They all live in the theoretically temporary trailer park behind the store. The same trailer park I was ready to go to war against because the jerk in the space directly behind the store has been temporarily there for four months with a shed smack against my bathroom window. Any minute now I might create a half dozen homeless urchins over the view from my toilet.
Yesterday three girls came back and asked if I had paper to draw on. I produced hearts and flower coloring pages and a pile of bright gel pens. After a while I suggested they might like to finish at home. They said they don't have any colors at home. This might or might not be true. I have a big book entitled Why Kids Lie that I once threatened to send home next time I heard a lie. They all promptly started making up lies. Fortunately I know the difference between a story and a lie. The book remains prominently displayed under the last supper tapestry.
"We have that," the littlest one said pointing at the tapestry.
"You do?" One of the girls had taken off her shoes and I sat glumly in the odor of locker room laced with bubble gum thinking, great--no sales for two days and I'm having coloring parties.
"Our Grandma has it," she said.
"Has this book?" asked her sister who was climbing up the bookcase to check out Why Kids Lie again.
"No," said our first grader pointing at the tapestry. "God."
JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME, right before I was going to crash land in the depths of "what am I doing anyway," I read Fishers of Men by Glenn Clark. A signed copy even. Glenn Clark is big on making friends with folk one by one. Faith, hope and love. You can shake the tree at harvest time, a bunch will fall to the ground. Some may be a bit green, some may get bruised. On the other hand, you can wrap your hand around a piece of fruit and apply the tiniest pressure. If it's ripe, it will fall right into your palm.
I MAY HAVE ALREADY READ Fishers of Men. I suspect that I have already read enough great books that I could easily cover the rest my life just reading them over again. Another one that floated to the surface in a recent Sort and Organize, is Malcom Muggeridge's A Third Testament. Somewhat akin to Colson's Loving God, A Third Testament features chapters on different Christians. I reread the chapter on Tolstoy, where I came upon this quote: "History, as Tolstoy sees it, is a kind of cosmic soap-opera, an emanation of the collective consciousness which is played back to edify, instruct and entertain." An interesting thought in these perilous times.
EYES AND EARS and nose-ies, stomachs, fingers toes-ies: Robert informs me that muscle groups pull in opposite directions to lift an arm or a leg. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, is the first book of Yancy's that I ever read. Written with Dr. Brand who worked in leper colonies, the book is an analogy of the body of Christ and basic anatomy. No wonder some of us shout justice while others cry mercy. We need both coloring parties and beachfests. Is it any wonder that in moving through the land we often take different sides on the same issue? Uniquely positioned, we work in seeming opposition, redeeming the time.
I FINALLY got around to Kathleen Norris' Amazing Grace, A vocabulary of faith. I guess I thought it would be boring little essays on standard Christianese. Wrong! If you enjoyed watching her progress from Dakota Through Cloisterwalk, you'll find her stories moving even closer to the Lord of Life in Amazing Grace. One advantage of waiting is that it's now in paperback. $12.95
MORE RECOMMENDATIONS: Several strangers mentioned Dallas Willard's Divine Conspiracy. Then the bishop ordered it, giving me a tantalizing glance before I mailed it off. Now another friend just discovered it. I bit the $22 bullet and ordered it in. Locals can rent it for $3.
I read Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember. Is it my imagination or are these NY Times Bestsellers getting more Christian? This one is about a high school boy falling in love with the too, too odd daughter of the local pastor. A great $6.99 read...keep kleenex handy.
TOO BAD I took down my A Walk in The Woods display: a Nevada pastor ordered How to Shit in the Woods. The display possibilities have kept me chorteling for days.
OCTOBER MARKS OUR 6th year in operation. Special thanks to the loyal few, loyal YOU, that keep us afloat. Steven Crocker got us a wonderful present from Five Star Fixtures: three brand new gorgeous shelf units. Come and see our new look.
EXPERIMENTS IN PRAYER is wrapping up its first 6-week session. We've had great fun sharing; some of the experiments have been real bombs, others have opened doors. The second 6-week session starts at noon on Friday, October 19 and will presuppose a half hour a day commitment of sanctified (set apart) time. Let me know if you are interested in joining us.
WRITE ON: First Tuesday Writer's Group continues. November's topic will be Getting-To-The-Work. Meanwhile a beautiful girl who was in the home schooler's writing class that I taught 5 years ago has written a novel and is interested in a weekly class for post high-school/college age folk. Any other takers?
"A period is to let the writer know he has finished his
thought, and he should stop there if he will only take
the hint." --Art Linkletter
Blessings,
Alliee +