I skipped out on paintball yesterday AND today. It felt good just to hang out at home with the kids. Emily got a good dose of being at home so I think she's ready to get back to school tomorrow. She did the silliest thing. Last week she took another book to school for her teacher to read to the class. It was a Max Lucado book called "The Crippled Lamb." So her teacher apparently loves the author. She let Emily borrow all her Max Lucado books. There were seven of them. Well Emily went to school the next day and told her teacher that I was not happy. What the heck??? Where did she get that? When I seen she had the books I told her to be sure to be very careful with them, and when she dropped her backpack on the way home I got onto her a little bit. I cannot figure how in the world she thought I was "not happy." When I picked Emily up from school her teacher was apologizing and I felt so bad for her. We were very happy she thought enough of Emily to lend her those books and I hate it that she thought I was upset. I asked Emily why she told her that and she just said she didn't know. She finally said she meant to say I was really happy. I think she was just talking and not even paying attention to what she was saying.

Church was really great today. The preacher was so funny. He used props in his sermon today. He preached about the story in Acts when Paul is putting wood on a fire and a serpent bites him but he does not die. The illustration he used was about the fire. Christians should be on fire for God. Paul had to put wood on the fire or it would go out. As a Christian we also have to feed our flame, and just like Paul there are serpents waiting to strike us. Satan is always just around the corner waiting to attack. With the power of the Holy Spirit though we can resist these attacks.

Another illustration the preacher used was water. Water puts out fire. He said he sees a lot of people going around putting out Gods fires. He gave some examples like gossiping, complaining, lying and with each example he dumped a little water on the floor in front of the pulpit. It was so funny because one of the older ladies in church just about died when he actually dumped out the water. He kept telling her to hold on, don't worry, it'll clean up.

I really like his message. It made me realize that to stay on fire for God you do have to work. The wood is not going to get up and walk to the fire. If I had to build a fire right now I would have to go out and gather the materials I need. I don't think God wants a select few to do all the gathering either. I think we all need to get off our butts and work. I'll use our church for an example. There are three types of people. The older group who has served and is now passing the work to the younger generations. The younger group who pitched in for a while but grew bored and quit. Then there is the few who are actually doing all the work. I don't know if this is the way it is in other churches but should we have to beg someone to teach a Sunday school class? Should there be a committee for every tiny decision that needs to be made? Should the same people be expected to always carry the load? I know we are all called to do different things but it just seems these days people just want to come to church, no one wants to participate.