He shall be called Star. And yours?

Yeah, a line from John Christopher's 1966 novel The White Mountains comes to my mind, and it's as good a title as any, so here goes. Yesterday the sixth of January in the Christian church is known as Epiphany, traditionally the day the Wise Men or Magi came to visit Jesus; even though according to the second chapter of Matthew they did NOT arrive to meet Jesus in the manger but rather saw him when he was like Cindy-Lou Who “no more than two” (hence Herod's massacring the two-year-olds after the wise men didn't go back from Bethlehem to tell him where Jesus was), we still keep the story going to fit everyone in. Yesterday children's sermon at my church dovetailed right into Pastor Gerald's sermon where all the kids assembled got star – because the wise men followed the star to Jesus – stickers to pass out to all of us in the sanctuary … but at first not to Herod (whom I got to be, so the wise men and their assorted accoutrements avoided the area of church I sat on until the end).

It's always fun to watch how we relate the stories of the Bible to our kids; the question's asked not just of pastors but parents and teachers and any “authority figure”, how do we make the truth of the Bible makes sense to those growing up now without changing the story's meaning? Sarah and Jeffrey helped me pack the lunches we'll be using in my Sunday school play about Jesus feeding the multitudes via a little boy's lunch, but as I didn't get to do the play because only two fourth graders showed up yesterday – kinda tricky to do a play with eight cast members with only three people (Camden, Damian, and myself) even if we glom onto multiple roles. Don't want to be accused of inducing multiple personality disorder in such a young and tender age … so after Sunday school (Sarah's class got to go to Milton Young Towers and deliver food to the food bank there while Jeffrey's class did a craft involving Jonah and the whale, usually the centerpiece of the story when you're five!

Schoolhouse Rock is forty years old today! And I can still sing the lyrics of “Interjection!” (So when you're happy “HOORAY!” or sad “AWW!” or frightened “EEK!” or mad “RATS!” or excited “WOW!” or glad “HEY!” an interjection starts the sentence right!) Saturday mornings just aren't the same anymore; even while you had fun, you were at least learning something (and this is back when ABC did not persist in last-place-doldrums, but that's my opinion). But Once Upon A Time might change that, especially if the mid-season premiere is any indication … but again, I've got a week to get started and get serious about my writing, my business, my God, and my family, not necessarily in that order. So now's the time to make it a good one and in the words of last Sunday's “Sally Forth” comic strip,
So stop focusing on what you don't have, what hasn't happened, and revel in the absolutely incredible, awe-inspiring time you live in right now.

Besides, according to “Blade Runner” I may not know if I'm an android.

David