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.
