Saturday evening, the General and I were invited by my niece to join them at the Lake Travis Performing Arts Center for the production of “Living the Dream” performed by the Lake Travis Cavaliers. Lilian was included in the line-up. Though not yet in high school, the opportunity for dance in the Cavaliers is also available in the middle school. Obviously, the kid is made to dance. Did I mention her mother grew up Methodist?
For starters, the first thing I noticed is that all school districts are not created equal. I’ve never been to a high school with a Performing Arts Center. Trust me, the things that take place there obviously are not your basic “bathrobe and slippers” performances. I’m not sure where that expression came from other than remembering the three wise men from a Christmas play at church. It was not their finest moment. The Performing Arts Center at Lake Travis is obviously a prelude to Broadway. Nothing was left to chance and the dance performances were top of the line.
I am still at a loss that one could orchestrate that quality of a performance in a high school setting. At intermission, the General and I opted to head back to the hills of Henly. We had been privileged to see Lilian perform. She seemed so grown-up. It added to the concept of “Sands through the hourglass”. Though we would have enjoyed the other half of the performance, it was a school-night so-to-speak and I needed to get ready for church for the following morning.
Fortunately, I had invested about four hours in the afternoon working on my sermon. Okay, so that’s unprecedented. Generally, I invest that kind of time on a Saturday night or very early the next morning. Of course, the content had been part of my thought processes through portions of the week.
The General and I had gone over to Andrea and Kevin’s house to stay with their dogs on Saturday afternoon. “Bow-Wow” – the dogs like our company. In addition, Andrea and Kevin had made a day-trip to Cat Spring to connect with Craig’s family. Consequently, we didn’t want the dogs to be unattended. Besides that, we needed to feed them their evening meal before we left for the dance recital.
The General and I got side-tracked on our way home after the performance. We opted to stop for a late dinner. Exhaustion took precedence over anything else by the time we got home Saturday night. Consequently, I opted for bed and didn’t set the alarm. After all, I had my sermon notes for the following morning.
Sunday morning started out like any other morning. The blog posting cames first. Once that was online, I had time to refresh my memory and get ready for the day.
Sunday morning was Fifth Sunday – and members from Mt. Horeb Baptist Church were coming to join us for church. Worship was being led by three guys that play guitars and sing. I shared with Ken, Lawrence and Stan that I needed ten minutes. I didn’t really think they would take up the entire Worship hour with music, but you never know. When it had been discussed in my presence a couple of weeks before, someone had suggested as much. They even added, “It would be an opportunity to give the preacher a Sunday off. He won’t have to do anything”. All I can say is: “They had my skill set figured out.”
Lawrence asked: “How will we know when we’ve sung too long?” My tongue in cheek response was: “Well, when you’ve sung too long, you’ll probably see people leaving”.
I was a little surprised when the group handed the service over to me about 11:30. I was anticipating they would sing longer. But of course, that could have been wishful thinking on my part. The real surprise of the morning had been the discovery that the four hours I invested on Saturday writing it all down somehow had been lost. I’m still not sure how that happened, but the five pages I had written were reduced to one when I opened the document. I was speechless. It wasn’t what I would describe as a good surprise.
Fortunately, the content was fresh on my mind and I really didn’t need the notes. I had the sense that the message went well. Following lunch, I had an afternoon meeting at church and the General and I had plans for a brief visit with a couple from our church later in the day.
Actually, the couple lives in a home that previously belonged to other dear friends of ours. Our other friends moved from Johnson City into Austin when they got older. Consequently, the General had not been in that home since 1999. We thought the home was absolutely wonderful when our other friends lived there; however, it has been updated and is now more open and light. It is an incredible look. In addition, the new owners have expanded the outdoor living space and it is absolutely amazing.
Actually, truth-be-told, the new friends are absolutely amazing. The former friends are now on the other side of eternity. The new friends have long since picked up where the former friends left off. Our lives are greatly enhanced by their friendship.
“Likes sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives”. The folks who used to live in that home were dear friends. The folks who now live in that home are dear friends. God has a way of ushering in exactly what we need when we need it. But I still maintain that we best figure that out when we take the time and reflect on all we’ve been given.
All My Best!
Don