David against Gorilla!

Last night Faith and Joshua had their newly designed race cars participate in the Pinewood Derby last night.
As I wrote previously, we took them over to Mr. Johnson's "Mini Home Depot" shop on Saturday and had these blocks of wood transformed into racing cars. The cars were designed. The cars were painted. The cars had little "Lego" people on them to add an atmosphere of authenticity. All that was left to make the cars a finished product was to put the axles and the wheels on the cars. Faith and Joshua went to bed on Tuesday night with the full anticipation of seeing the complete product when they woke up the next morning.

We put the kids to bed, retreated to the kitchen, caught up from the day and about 9:00 o'clock the "simple" procedure of adding the axles and wheels began. You know where this is going don't you!!

I was quite proud of myself that at 9:28 pm I had admitted defeat and called Mr. Johnson. He chuckled and said something about that this "sometimes" happens. I thought to myself, "No it doesn't. It only happens to me." As expected, he offered great advice and I was off and running, well actually "continued stumbling."

Mr. Johnson mentioned that after securing the axles in place, you might want to add a little glue for extra security. No problem. Julie brought out a brand new package of "Gorilla Glue" that had never been opened.

I ripped open the package, twisted off the cap and squeezed the bottle. It was hard as a rock. Julie forgot to mention that this new bottle was a few years old. Not to be deterred, I grabbed the power drill and made an opening... in the side of the bottle! I began to squeeze and out this glue came, dripping everywhere... all over my fingers, the counter top and eventually made its way to the axles and after 20 minutes the project was complete.

All ten fingers were as sticky as they could be. So sticky they were, they started to literally stick to one another. I quickly turned on the hot water, rubbed some soap in there and grabbed a paper towel. My fingers were just as sticky. The situation was growing worse rather than better.

I asked Julie to look up on Google on her iPad, "How to get Gorilla Glue off your hands." Her response was classic, "Are you serious?" YES, I am serious. I stood over the kitchen sink, with fingers spread, awaiting the answer.

Julie found the website and then began to read the instructions. She got as far as..."Don't use hot water..." and then started laughing so hard all I heard was something about "sandpaper, olive oil, pumice stone, exfoliation, don't use gasoline and should your "digits" get stuck please see a doctor."

Doubled over, Julie found a pumice stone and a bottle of olive oil and there I stood for the next 30 minutes trying to sand down the Gorilla Glue off of my fingers and yet at the same time trying to keep my God given unique fingerprints intact...I looked around and Jesus was nowhere to be found as I think I lost him somewhere between the second and third axle! I think he was off somewhere laughing too...

My iWitness...

Is this not one of the reasons we don't get involved in other people's business and lives?

People and their lives are like an unopened package of Gorilla Glue.

We notice they need help. We offer assistance. Or they ask us for help. And we are happy to respond and before we know it, we are stuck in a sticky mess that we cannot get off of our hands. The more we try to assist the stickier the situation becomes.

Here's the axiom of the day... People are sticky. People are messy. People can be a real pain. People take time. People don't easily wash off of our hands or our hearts.

Here's the second axiom of the day... People are worth helping. People are worth investing in. Messy, sticky fingers is a small price to pay for helping someone run the race and receive the reward of crossing the Finish Line.

After all, Jesus knows all about getting stuck. He got himself stuck to a cross in order to make sure we could run the race set before us and not only run... but to cross the Finish line.

At the end of the Pinewood Derby Joshua had won one race. Faith stood next to her trophy for most creative car. The smile on their faces and the joy in their heart was worth the sticky fingers.

It always is...

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

The Parable of the Good Samaritan...
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when came to to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do like wise."
(Luke 10. 29-37)