"It's a Wonderful Life"
Monday, November 7, 2005
Sunday had been a lazy day. But Sunday School was always another matter. The lesson was taken from Jacob and Esau, much to the delight of Ivy’s nephew, who was also named Jacob. OLeif had such a way of animating and creatively telling the story, that the whole class listened in awe and anticipation.
“So,” OLeif was saying, “Jacob keeps stirring that soup, saying, ‘I don’t know about this… This soup is mine. I’ve worked hard all day to prepare it. I think maybe we should trade. Hmmm… You know, you could give me something like your… I don’t know… birthright?’”
“No! No! Don’t do it!” The class chorused, gasping.
But, alas, Esau (whose name meant “hairy,” as the class soon found out, giggling) made the fatal error of selling his best possession.
“And you’ll have to find out next week what happened,” OLeif was finishing.
The class groaned. “Oh, come on,” they all asked, “just tell us next week’s lesson too! Please!”
Collette chuckled to herself, hurrying to the Sunday School box to collect their craft, “My husband, the story-teller!”
And as mass riots had continued across the whole of France that week, there was much prayer for the Persecuted Church during the worship service, including the Sudan, China, Eritrea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, North Korea, and Iran… It was good to be in prayer for brothers and sisters all over the globe, who were suffering. As Pastor Hatch was saying, a close statistic registered than every 12-15 seconds, a believer was killed for Jesus, along with the 200,000,000 who suffered persecution at any given moment of the day, because of Christ. It was chilling, yet Christ had warned believers 2,000 years before, that such things would take place – The great Tribulation. Collette remembered a time when she had considered giving it all up and heading over to the Middle East as a missionary, after a particularly powerful message delivered by Joe the Older…
Following chili and cornbread for lunch, Collette stayed on the couch most of the afternoon and evening while the front screen door was open to the cool breezes, caught the tail-end of a tribute to Rosemary Clooney on Channel 9, and Mom and Dad napped while OLeif, Joe, and Rose were at youth (after Joe had picked up Magnus, who was visiting the group), Carrie lunched with Elizabeth and her mom, and the kids were downstairs and milling about and playing outside, and Dad read Philip Melancthon after his nap. Evening came and Joe had scooted off with Magnus to his youth group while OLeif and Rose returned with QT sodas and everyone gathered in the living room for a viewing of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and laughed over popcorn popper-popped pop corn. Back home before bed, OLeif smoked his pipe and the aroma of sweet tobacco permeated the little abode. It was a pleasant evening. And Collette thought about how nice it would be to visit the Raven’s farm come next March – all of them on 80 quiet, peaceful acres – to sit around the fire, take walks in the cool of the afternoon, play checkers, and enjoy hot soup for dinner…
On Monday, Rose and Collette ran some errands between tutoring sessions after dropping by the antique shop, including picking up a dozen shiny red and yellow Gala apples to make apple dumplings that afternoon. The apples were cored, peeled, wrapped in pie crust, and brushed in butter and cinnamon. Delicious! There was hot chicken and vegetable stew and fresh brown bread for dinner, along with the dumplings of which Collette had cored and peeled till her arms ached, Carrie had filled and covered with crust, and they had both taken turns basting in the oven, which blasted their faces with red heat.
Meanwhile, Joe had mowed the front lawn and was busy scrubbing the downstairs bathroom in preparation for the Lord-Welches’ return. OLeif was coming from work for computer class, and Mom and Frances would return shortly from Frances’ swimming lesson.