December 4. Sunday Night.

Hi Journey.

Carm's call rousted me up this morning. It seems her fingers were trigger-happy on her phone's speed-dial—she was trying to reach Percy's mom. I felt like burrowing back deeper into the covers and just hibernating all morning. Instead I taught Sunday school. Believe me; it was tough, after having stayed up until after 3 talking with Eddie.

And I think little Jack Heckstrom has met his perfect foil.

There was a new girl in class today. Tisha Ellis. On the tall side. Light brown hair. Freckles. Glasses. Her dad's company just transferred the family here from Indianapolis . She was polite, on the quiet side, and not a fidgeter like so many 8 year olds are. She participated well in class; had obviously attended Sunday school before, although their church in Indianapolis didn't use David C. Cook materials, like ours does.

Girl's a quick study, though. Today we read the story of Samuel's mother, Hannah. Little Tee picked up right away how strong Hannah's faith must have been to give up her little boy to serve God.

If there is any time leftover at the end of class I invite the kids to share about their week. They usually talk about school or what they did with their families. Every other week I ask them if they bumped up against any ‘rough spots' in the week where a little prayer to God could have helped them out. I know it sounds corny, Journey, but they need to learn it's OK to ask God for a little boost.

Tee shared that she was really upset when they discovered there wasn't a Steak n Shake in our town. She told us how much she enjoyed going there with her family and just hanging out. She hadn't asked God about it, but thought that might be a good idea.

Of course, Jack Heckstrom had to chirp in. “Think God's gonna set up a Steak n Shake franchise over on the corner of First and Elmwood?”

Tee shot right back: “No. Because your damn taste buds are too stupid to tell the difference between a Steakburger and a Big Mac.”

We had two firsts this morning in our little class, Journey. A cuss word (and yes, I shot Tee the obligatory brow-furrow to let her know swearing wasn't OK), and an absolutely speechless Jack Heckstrom.

Guess I'm glad I didn't go out with Eddie Genesis again first thing this morning after all.

But it was great on Saturday Night.

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