Day Sixty - a very tired Sunday.

Mark 9:35 "Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Somehow I managed to sleep  in until 8:30.  So when I got up I realized we had 45 minutes before church.  Riley was a bit skeptical, but I urged him to get ready.  Somehow we were off on time, but had had nothing to eat.  We pulled up outside of church just as Heidi and the kids did.  Heidi told me that Tom was going to go to church.  Now that was a surprise!  

The sermon today was great.   It was pastor Tim who was preaching.  His sermon was on the parable of the laborers in the vineyard:

Matthew 20:1-16

 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

 3 "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.

   "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

 7 " 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
      "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

 9 "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

 13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

 16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

The emphasis of the sermon was on the last verse, which is of course rather contrary to the world's view of things. He began by letting us know that there was one particular key to understanding this parable.  He also said that this parable was for those who are down by the world's standards, like ... people who are on their second divorce, guys who can hardly fit in when they get to see their children ...   he list many others, but those two were Tom.  He went on to explain that for those of us who are supposedly having out lives all together, who are doing our bit for the church, who look very righteous, in other words those who have been working in the vineyard from the start of the day, it's not about all our "good works" that get us into heaven (the pay), it's about God's grace.  Here again, one is reminded of Ephesians 2:8-9   "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  I will confess that I still don't completely understand everything in this parable, but that was the best explanation I'd heard to date.

Emily eating a gummy worm

After church Tom was indeed outside, and had indeed gone to church.  He had picked right up on what the pastor had said about who the sermon was for.  Now if he could just start to act like he's saved.  The problem is that he is still the biggest liar I've ever known, and he lies so calmly.  My biggest worry about this is that Christian will often lie in the same way.  But still, it was good that Tom was at church.  He then took the the children, to my great disappointment, as I'd been looking forward to visiting with Emily.  So then Heidi and Riley and Parker and I went into the boulangerie and had a very nice time.

I don't know much about the rest of the afternoon, but I'll bet I laid on the couch and slept, or just laid there, as I was very lathargic.  At some point Riley went to pick up our raw milk, but i was too tired to go with him.  I just laid on the couch in the  back room.  I do know that in the evening, as about 5 o'clock Ken and Marilyn brought over some food for dinner.  They had a quiche and a raspberry pie.  Since there were no greens, I again suggested that a salad be made.  I could not eat much of the dinner, as it was very rich, but it was very sweet of them to bring dinner.  Afterwards we played Sequence again, and this time the guys beat the girls 3 games to 2.  Afterwards we were all tired.

It had been another very slow day.  So that was basically two days of  being very tired.  Would tomorrow be the same?  I also seemed to be coming down with a soar throat and I was developing soars in my mouth.  Did I get to vigorous brushing my teeth?  I didn't eat spicy food or anything too hot that I could remember.

Isaiah 40:29-31

He gives strength to the weary
       and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
       and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.