Friday, October 7, 2011

9. Cinnamon Computer Mice


Pastor Tony stopped in front of his secretary’s desk, “Megan, I’m headed to the kitchen to make some herbal tea. Can I bring you some back?” “Uh, no thanks pastor, maybe next time. I’ll have this newsletter page three ready for you to look at first thing in the morning.” “Sounds good.”

About half way to the kitchen Tony stopped walking and jotted a couple key notes on his pocket computer. His sermon ideas for Sunday week were starting to come together. As he shortly walked into the kitchen he saw his Sweetie (that’s Kathryn his wife) seated at one of the large dining tables working on a paper mache project.

Three of the Super Sixties ladies were helping with tidiness not a top priority. A fourth lady came for her first time to help with the strange project. Her job was to mix the flour, water, salt, and cinnamon mixture for the whole mache work. She also cut heavy twine into two foot lengths putting a fat knot in one end. [Note: paper mache recipes include many variations that are best researched at the library or on line.]

While brewing his herbal tea, Tony learned the ladies were making some paper mache computer mice to be used by the Sunday evening children with their Darla Desktop Computers. He saw the knotted end of the twine put in the center of the cinnamon mache mouse.

The mice would later be painted to show two mouse buttons and some personalized initials for its owner. Using poster paints some of the girls painted a little Daisy flower on their flour mouse, while a couple boys painted simple wheels on the sides of theirs.

The children also pasted a colorful sign on the side of every Darla that said, “My Missions for Jesus.” The teachers stressed over and over that Darla is far more than a toy. It’s a tool for teaching friends about God’s love.

The Bible says that God gave us computers and that we should use them to please Him. On the white marker board was written, “Computer Grace”. A Sunday or two later the children had pretty much finished their Darla Desktop Computers with Cinnamon Flour Mouse. With the help of Dewey and Larado, the leaders taught the children about Computer Grace. It’s a lot like our table grace at dinner time. The difference is that before we touch our Darla computer and mouse, we need to always ask God to guide and guard us in our computing; whether it’s pretend or real. Satan is always looking for ways to turn our thoughts and actions ugly and dishonoring to God.

We should all act as though the most important part of our computing is what we do before we touch the mouse and keyboard… pray, plan, posture, and protect.