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Many years ago, when I was in elementary school, we had what we called "Doll Day." The day we went back to school after Christmas, all of us could take the doll we got for Christmas to school. We each stood in front of the class, showed our dolls and told the doll's name. The boys, of course, brought trucks or whatever it was boys got back then. For some reason though, all of us, including the teachers, called it "doll day." When I was in the sixth grade, (I was 11 years old,) I got up to go to school after Christmas break, so excited to take my doll to school like I always had. When I walked into my classroom with my doll cuddled close, NO ONE ELSE HAD BROUGHT THEIR DOLL.....or their truck or baseball or baseball glove or ANYTHING! I ducked my head, shuffled to my desk and shoved my sweet dollie underneath my seat. After school I grabbed my doll and ran home. Of course Mother thought it was hilarious. I didn't. I was very very sad. I figured there must be some sort of unwritten rule that after the 5th grade, there was no longer a "doll day." Of course I can laugh about it today, but when I told the story to Tommy and John boy, they both got tears in their eyes. Instead of an 80 year old wife and Mother, they saw a little blonde haired, innocent 11 year old girl running excitedly to school, clutching her doll. 
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We have been working in the warehouse bagging food for the food truck with a man everyone calls Pastor John. He and his wife have been in ministry for many many years. One thing he has been doing for several years is working in the school system. He checks on teachers and children and if there is anything they need they know they can go to Pastor John. He doesn't preach in a located ministry anymore, except to fill in (which I think he is doing right now) but he is still in ministry! Almost every day you will see him working in the warehouse or at one of the food trucks. The other day he told me he used to weigh 250 pounds! This man is maybe 5'5". (That's a generous estimate!) He told me he was diabetic but isn't anymore since he lost all that weight. He probably weighs 120 now! When we first started seeing John come to the warehouse he wore a mask. Since none of the rest of us did, I guess he decided he didn't need it either. When I hear stories of people who are "high risk" I can think of no one really, who is higher risk than Pastor John. As Paul Harvey used to say....here is "the rest of the story." John is on dialysis 3 times a week and has been for the past 6 years!  Pastor John is the man with his arms at his side with glasses, white shirt, and gray pants.
 Olive Beaupre Miller The Treasure Chest of My Bookhouse (Chicago: The Bookhouse for Children, 1920)IV:81
The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom. I have often told people that if all of us just tried to live by the teachings in Proverbs we would have a good life. Sometimes I wonder how the Lord puts up with all the silliness going on in the world today. It almost seems that sanity has completely been thrown out the window with the bath water! I don't listen to the news, but if I did I would feel like flinging myself out that same window just to escape all the silliness around me. Occasionally someone will tell me something they heard on the news and my reply is usually, "Just when I don't think it can get any sillier, it does." I could get on a bandwagon here and start naming all the silliness, but instead will tell you a story. It's called The Three Sillies. ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a farmer, his wife and his daughter. A stranger happened to wander by and was invited to stay and eat. He accepted and because the daughter was very beautiful, he said to himself, "this girl is very beautiful. I will try and make her my wife." The Mother was fixing supper and asked the daughter to go into the basement and bring up some cider that they had stored in a big keg in the basement. The daughter was gone for a long time, so the Mother told the Daddy to go down and check on her. The Daddy stayed a long time as well, so the Mother told the young man she would go check on them. After awhile when none of them came back, the young man decided he would go down and check. All three were sitting beside the keg of cider crying. Overhead in the ceiling was a hatchet buried in the wood. The young man asked the daughter why she was crying. She told him that when she came down to get the cider and saw the hatchet buried in the ceiling, she got to thinking...what if that hatchet fell while she was drawing the cider, and what if it hit her in the head, and what if it killed her and what if she never fell in love and married! What a horrible thing that would be. He asked the Daddy why he was crying. He said the same thing. What if his daughter came down to get the cider and the hatchet fell on her and killed her and she never got married and never had any grandchildren for him. Well....so it goes. You probably know what the Mother said. The young man left there very sorrowful and said that he had never met any sillier people than these three. He said that if he did, he would come back and marry the girl. Now, in my opinion, in the time we are living in, he would have had no trouble finding sillier people than those three! In fact, he probably would not have journeyed even a day away before he encountered silliness to make their silliness look pretty intelligent! Proverbs 13: 16 says (in the Message Bible) "A commonsense person lives good sense; fools litter the country with silliness."  Norman Rockwell, "The Right to Know" illustration for "Look" magazine, August 20, 1968 Private Collection | ©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All Rights Reserved. The Sunday after the shooting in Atlanta, I sat in church. It was a solemn morning in one way, since the shooting had just happened, but it was also a morning to remind us that we are not of this world and our residence is in the Kingdom of God. It would be nice if His will was done "here on earth, like it is in Heaven," but since it isn't, when you get a little taste of His Kingdom, like we did Sunday morning, you rejoice! I looked around at all the skin color and all the diversity, and just felt at peace and content. We have been doing greeting in church since we started back, by standing up and waving at each other. Not this Sunday! Everyone was hugging and kissing and no one thought about what color someone's skin was. We were all children of God. Loved by Him and loved by each other! On Sunday night, once again, those different skin colors met to pray...for our nation and for the world. This morning as we went to work at the warehouse bagging food, yesterday stayed with me. I can't explain it. It truly is "the peace that passes all understanding" that the Bible talks about. It seems to me that every day I see the Lord's hand in everything that happens around me. I remember when the Lord parted the sea for the children of Israel to cross over. Moses said to the people "Don't be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today." (Exodus 14:13) Every day since this virus scare has started, I have watched God do His work. I am not afraid, nor have I ever been. If I get the virus and go on to be with the Lord...I say with Paul, the apostle....that is far better. (Philippians 1:23) I was talking to Tommy and John boy and Audrey (visiting us) this morning, and told them a story. I have it in my book The Little Big Apple, but they thought I should put it in my blog. Several years ago, we were in Mexico building a house for a young couple with a baby. The lot was completely devoid of trees, so we had to eat our lunch out in the sun every day! When we finally got the roof on the house, we were all sitting inside eating our sack lunches. Every morning before going to the site, we packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some chips and cookies. Tommy and I were sitting on the newly poured concrete floor, leaning against the new walls, opening our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I looked across from us, and Joel David Mathis (who was around 11 years old at the time) was sitting with his legs crossed, leaning against one of the beams. He wasn't eating. In fact, he didn't even have a bag! I said "Joel David, where is your lunch." He looked at me with those big sad eyes and he said "Oh Pat. I got so distracted by the pancakes at breakfast, I forgot to make me a lunch!" I just started dying laughing! Of course we shared with him, but I will never forget that sweet boy sitting there on that concrete floor in Mexico in 115 degree weather, saying he was distracted by pancakes. We have other memories of Joel David in Mexico....some of them going back to when he was barely old enough to say a complete sentence. He is a grown man now, but if he is ever distracted by pancakes again and is anywhere close by, I will gladly share whatever I have with him!
Every house we have lived in has had the most glorious light coming in all of the windows. We have been blessed with light shows at different times during the day. This morning was no exception.
It rained during the night, and the window at the front of the trailer was covered in tiny droplets of water. The way the light was hitting these droplets, it looked like the window was covered in diamonds. There was even color reflected in some of them! SO beautiful! Tommy and I were talking about light and how much it enhances our lives. It just makes me happy! When there has been an especially dark day or even week, and the sun comes out, you can almost see people smiling all over town! You get your first cup of coffee, walk into the living room and enjoy the light show. We also talked about how light shows up things that you would not ordinarily see. It shows up dust on the table. If shows up mud on the floor. It shows up wrinkles on my face!!!! It shows up streaks on the mirror, even after you thought you had cleaned it! Lots of evil takes place in the darkness because people think no one can see. However, there is One who always sees. He sees the dirt and the grime and the streaks that no one else sees, because HE IS light. There is no place dark enough that I can hide from God. Even the dark thoughts I have cannot be hidden from Him. I John 1:6,7 says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." We came to the trailer yesterday to mow. After we finished we drove to the lake to meet Audrey, Jami, Laken (the girl, not the cat), and Annette. We had hot dogs and unlike the last time we drove up there, had the lake pretty much to ourselves. On the way up, we saw the most beautiful rainbow I think I have ever seen! It wasn't in the sky but was lying on the mountain, almost like a quilt! It took our breath away. People were pulling over to get pictures. With the rainbow came a promise from God. He said he would never again destroy the whole world with a flood. He has kept that promise. He always keeps His promises. If I am trying to follow Him, then I should also try to keep my promises. When someone asks me to pray for them....I should make it a point to pray. When someone asks me to help them in some way....I should make it a priority to help. When someone asks me to just show up for some activity designed to minister to others...I should make sure I show up....on time. Keeping a promise is not always easy. Other things that I want to do, just for me, get in the way. God is busy too. He, after all, has a whole universe to run. But He still keeps His promises. Promises He made over 2,000 years ago. Sometimes, I can't keep a promise I made 2 hours ago!  Be Ye Glad
GLAD In these days of confused situations In this night of a restless remorse When the heart and the soul of a nation Lay wounded and cold as a corpse From the grave of the innocent Adam Comes a song bringing joy to the sad Oh, your cry has been heard and the ransom Has been paid up in full, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Every debt that you've ever had Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad So be like lights on the rim of the water Giving hope in a storm sea of night Be a refuge amidst the slaughter Of these fugitives in their flight For you are timeless and part of a puzzle You are winsome and young as a lad And there is no disease or no struggle That can pull you from God, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Every debt that you ever had Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad Every debt that you ever had Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad Songwriters: MICHAEL KELLY BLANCHARD © Universal Music Publishing Group, CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP For non-commercial use only.
We got 3 tons of food in at the Lost Sheep warehouse Saturday! So, this morning we got up and went over to help bag it to pass out on the food truck.
Afterwards, we worked the food truck. Then we went to the store, over to Jason's to pray (something we have been doing every day for the past 2 weeks...his request) and then we came home to fix supper. Tommy is starting a weekly Bible study broadcast tonight. It's called, Mondays and Mark He is in the other room preparing for it. We are doing another broadcast 3 nights a week throughout June about happy things. May was lonely things. The second one is called "The Oaks Family Merry Month of June Off The Road Medicine Show." (just go to our websites to find out more..tommyoaks.com, patoaks.com, johnthomasoaks.com) Somewhere today, in all of the activity, John boy remarked, "I don't understand boredom." I totally agreed with him. The Lord has placed us in such a place right now, that we don't have to look far to find something to do. One of our family's favorite statements is "there is no need to be bored. The New International Bible says in Colossians 3:23....Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. I think there is a difference in working for a human and in working for God. I also believe that all work can be work for the Lord if you keep your mind on Him while doing whatever task you have before you. I have not been bored during all of the craziness going on right now. My prayer for you is to look around you and find SOMETHING TO DO WITH ALL YOUR HEART AS FOR THE LORD
Yesterday was a full day, as all Wednesdays are. We packed food for the food truck in the morning. It was so hot in the warehouse that I almost got sick. Then Tommy turned on the big exhaust fan and opened up the rolling doors, so it was much better after that! Since we had a long weekend with Memorial Day, we had a lot more to do. We didn't finish until about one in the afternoon.
Last night we went under the bridge. It wasn't too bad, since there was a breeze blowing. We are slowly (hopefully) getting back to normal down there. We put out a few tables for the first time since March, so that people could sit down and eat on a chair instead of the ground. Jessica had fixed scrambled eggs and sausage. Since we have a ton of eggs at the warehouse, that was a good choice! Lots of people who came through the line expressed how grateful they were for us coming down there each week. I always want to say "I am the one who is blessed!" And I am. I find I feel more at home and more alive when I am under the bridge with the homeless, than I feel anywhere else. I told one woman (Georgia) that I wanted to have her and a friend of hers, Carol, over to eat one night. I asked her if she had any food allergies and she said emphatically ...NO! She said she just liked to eat. This woman is probably in her 70's and it breaks my heart to think what her life has been like. Unlike some though, she is always clean. As we prepared to walk to our car last night, John boy said "look Mom!" When I glanced up, I saw bubbles! Hundreds of them blowing toward me from across the space under the bridge. One of the homeless men had brought a jar of bubbles with him and as he left with his entourage, he was leaving a trail of bubbles. A small thing, certainly, but to me...a big thing. Bubbles always make me happy. In a world of too much gloom and doom (especially during this virus) we need more bubbles. Bubbles aren't just for little children. They are for all of us. John boy said we should take a bubble machine down there next time we go. I think I just might do that. I am also thinking of buying enough individual bottles to pass out to everyone, so that when they leave, they can take the bubbles with them. If you have been having a hard time lately, head to the store and buy a bottle of bubbles. Don't just buy a small one. Get one of those gargantuan ones! When life starts to pull you down, blow a few bubbles to make you look heavenward. |
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