We’re still going strong at Bible School. At least the kids are. They can get a lot more mileage out of those cookies and Kool Aid than us older folks can. I usually teach the teenagers, but this year the teens must have had other things going and nobody showed up for my class. So I’ve been helping with the Beginners. That’s ages two to five. Very challenging when a couple of them keep crying for their mamas and daddies. I think those two aren’t really ready for Bible School, but the pastor’s wife and I are giving it our best try. And without the cookies and popcorn I don’t know if we’d make it.
But I really do love Bible School and getting to know the kids better and hearing what they tell you. In one class the teacher was impressing on the children how they could pray and God would always be listening. This little girl pipes up and says, “I prayed I wouldn’t have to stay at the babysitter’s and I did. I don’t think He was listening that day.” That makes us smile, but you know a lot of us might have felt something the same at this or that time. But as Br. Fred often says, there are more than one way for the Lord to answer our prayers. There’s yes. There’s no. There’s wait. There’s not yet. There’s trust Me. The Lord sees the whole picture and we sometimes only see the part right in front of our eyes.
Just take my Shaker book, The Outsider. I came up with the original idea over thirty years ago. Wrote the book. Had it rejected over and over as too religious. Got a really nice letter from Harlequins, but it was still a thanks, but no thanks letter. Then all these years later I dug it out of my closet, rewrote it for the inspirational market and Revell published it. Best of all readers read it. So maybe the answer that I thought was no way back then was really wait. Not yet. This story’s time will come.
The Believer didn’t have such a wait time. Now I can only hope the time is right for Elizabeth’s and Ethan’s story. I think you’re going to like them as characters and that you will like reading their story. Some of you have already pre-ordered the book and I certainly appreciate that. In fact so many people did that when I called Baker Books to order more copies for myself, they didn’t have any. I couldn’t complain about that although I did ask the lady I was talking to if they’d printed any copies. She assured me they had and that they would be printing some more. That was good news.
And thank goodness, she did some switching around and found some copies for me. It might not be good to try a book event or signing without books. I’m planning a local book event at the Anderson County Library on Saturday afternoon, August 22. I’ll have door prizes and other fun things that day. But first I’ll be having the book’s coming out party at Shaker Village in Mercer County this coming Saturday morning. I’m looking forward to that. There will be a traditional Shaker breakfast. Well, the food anyway will be traditional. We’ll be breaking their traditions by talking. The Shakers didn’t allow talking during meals in what they called their “biting rooms.” That would be difficult for me this Saturday morning. I plan to do some talking and sharing with my friends. If you can’t be there, I’ll let you know how things went on Sunday.
Hope you have some fun things planned for this weekend. Summer is zooming past. They’re starting school here week after next. Seems way too early. Kids are supposed to go swimming in August. Not go back to school.