Day 66- A Sign First

Unless one is an inanimate object in the Wilkinson household, you are aware that a children's choir from Uganda is coming to Hopewell Church on Monday.  To say my wife is excited would be like saying to people here in Alabama that the Iron Bowl is a decent football game to watch. She is out of her mind excited.

We do realize that not everyone is aware that Ugandan Thunder (that's the name of the choir) is coming to Andalusia.  So, Laura wanted this to be put on our church sign.  I think she meant by that her husband would do that.  I came up with the idea that our whole family could be involved in putting that information on the church sign.  My "first" for today was to involve the whole family in putting the Ugandan Thunder information on the church sign.  I've changed the church sign myself, but I've never included the whole family in doing so.

The family was really excited about doing this.  OK, more realistically, they ranged from "mildly excited" to "not grumbling."  It may have helped that I mentioned that we would go out to eat afterwards.  That was not a trick to get  them to do it; we've had a busy week and I wanted a family outing so that was already on the schedule.

Joel likes his sign balanced

This sign is like us; a work in progress not yet completed

Hannah Grace tries to make her side a bit trendy

One of my son's favorite parts of this was throwing the screwdriver and making it stick in the ground

We are excited about having 22 orphans from Uganda coming to sing at our church and stay in our homes. We had this privilege last year.  This year it will be different children. They come and tour through parts of the U.S. for about 6 months raising money for 17 orphanages. That means they are raising money to help feed over 5000 children in Uganda.  We are told that some of these children only get to eat meat twice a year (Christmas and Easter).  While they are in the U.S. they will eat meat more than that in a day. 

I was very impressed (maybe moved, inspired or convicted would be better words) with how enthusiastic and energetic they worshipped last year.  They were very talented, but it was the energy they worshipped with and the apparent sincerity they struck me.  In our home, the children were extremely well-behaved and polite.  Their prayers usually made Laura cry.  So, we are looking so forward to Monday night at 6:00.

One reason I wanted the family to change the sign together was to include Hannah Grace and Joel in being excited about the choir being here on Monday.  After we got the sign ready, we all laid hands on the sign and I prayed that God would use that sign to draw people to hear Ugandan Thunder. I also prayed for the choir and their needs amongst other things. Mostly, I prayed that Jesus would be glorified.

Afterwards, I explained to Hannah Grace and Joel that we want to do our part in ministry.  But we are absolutely dependent on the Lord to cause eternal things to happen. That's why we pray.  When we work, we get what we can do.  When we pray, we can see what God can do.  I love the quote, “pray as if everything depends on God, work as if everything depends on you.”

Praying for the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. 2 Guys Pies in Andalusia
2. Microwave ovens
3. Cornelius (Acts 10)