the wheels on the bus...

I’m in charge of parking at church. I don’t mind. its pretty fun actually. I get to talk to a lot of new people and find out things like how parking lots are paved and signs are made. it gives me an excuse to go outside on sunday mornings too. there is a great team of parking guys who are pretty self-sufficient, and motivated, and ready for anything- and that makes everything easier.

we recently had an issue where we ran out of parking! we have fixed this by having all of our church staff and volunteers park around the corner. there is a team of bus drivers that take turns getting everyone to church and back to their car. Art drives from 7:15 to 8:15, I drive from 8:30 to 9:00, rigo drives from 10:15 to 10:50, and bruce drives from 12:00 to 1:00pm. I really like driving on sunday morning. it gives me time out of the office, and gives me some quiet time with not much to do other than wait for people to show up, look over my notes and pray for the church.

(this sunday was crazy. I was speaking at the 9:00am service, and I was supposed to start at 9:15. people kept coming to the bus late! I didn’t get out of the bus until 9:13! I RAN to church, strapped on a microphone, caught my breath and started preaching. sheesh!)

I wait in this spot and often look right at this tree while I’m waiting for people to come and get shuttled over. this tree fascinates me. I think to myself things like, “how much do those branches weigh?!” “why don’t they fall?” “what kind of effort would it take to fabricate something like that?” “how deep do those roots go to keep that thing in place?” not only that, what fascinates me about this tree is that its alive. it grows and evolves. it repairs itself. it withstands weather. if we were to create something like that, it would need thick cables, a deep anchoring system, lightweight material, and a super-strong frame-
but this is just made with wood and water. and it supports itself.
we can never out-create nature.

“blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
-jeremiah 17:7-8