Westcott Beach State Park, Sackets Harbor, New York
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: …. For giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young – let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance… ~ Proverbs: 4,5
Premie Tobias came home from the hospital!
Thank You, Father!
At this time (July 4th – Happy Independence Day, by the way!), I’m so far behind, I can’t remember what we did today. At least not the details.
We did attend a worship service at New Hope Baptist Church in Watertown, NY. The Pastor is working through a series on the book of Revelation, and was up to Chapter 12:1-5. He did a fairly good job, but few can hold a candle to our Pastor Mike in Ohio, especially when it comes to Revelation. 😊
Instead of a sermon summary (because it’s Revelation, not because it wasn’t a good message), here’s another excerpt from my God Moments Journal:
There were things that happened outside of the church itself, too. Like the library incident. Chris absolutely loved to read – anything and everything – from “How to”, to novels, to survival manuals – whatever he could get his hands on. One summer, we were at the library clearing off the shelves – he always went thru huge stacks of books. I had chosen a book for him called “Fade”. The jacket said it was about a boy who upon reaching puberty, discovers he can make himself invisible. I thought, “Cool!” What does a 13 year old boy do when he’s invisible? Well, thank God – and I mean that literally – I read the book first! It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever read! After only two or three pages, I was appalled! And most appalling was that it was in the ’young adult’ section! I had to pray about whether or not to continue reading it, but in the end decided that I must if I was going to discuss it with the librarian intelligently. So I read, and I took notes and I went to the head librarian at the Green Branch where we got the book and presented my findings to her asking her to remove the book from the shelf. She refused. She’d personally chosen the book and thought it well written. Whatever! She never did admit to actually reading it. Shortly after that, I began a fierce spiritual battle – not of my choosing. (Are they ever?) I had to appeal to the governing body of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. I could actually feel the war raging at times as I prayed individually for those of the deciding body. In the end, they agreed with me and the book was placed in the adult section of all the libraries in Summit County!
But wait! There’s more! Some time after that, I was in the Green library again, but with Kyle this time. He never liked to read at all, but he had recently discovered “Goosebumps” books. As he was making his selections, I was wandering around and went past the shelf where “Fade” had once been. I distinctly felt God telling me to pick up another book. I began to argue with Him – I wasn’t going thru that again! And I walked away. Of course, by the time Kyle was ready to go, I had caved and had picked up several more books by the same author. They weren’t pornographic as “Fade” had been, but now there was one about a kid who became a serial killer. About how he worked the system so he wouldn’t have to go to prison, but be tried as a juvenile. And this book went into great detail about how everything was planned. Horrible for Jr. High kids to read! So back to the board I went. This one didn’t get removed, but they did agree to mark it – and others – as “parental guidance”.
But wait! There’s even more! On the very day my first VBS was to begin, I got a call from the head of the Akron Library. A reporter from the Akron Beacon Journal had my name and was going to be contacting me for a phone interview – – THAT VERY DAY! – – about my concerns over certain books. I was terrified! I ran – and I mean immediately – to church to meet with then pastor, Larry Baldridge. And I prayed and railed at God all the way. “Why me?!?!? Why today of all days?!?!? I don’t have time to deal with this today!!!“ We discussed how the media portrayed people of faith as quacks or idiots. How they often misquoted people or got the facts wrong. In the end, we decided that since I really had no choice but to talk to them, I would be honest about what happened and leave it in God’s Hands. The interview went well – or seemed to anyway. A photographer came out and took my picture – with the book, because I never returned it to the library. (I had, however offered to pay for it and they turned me down. I just hadn’t taken the time to destroy it yet.) A large article appeared in the Beacon Magazine. I was quoted correctly. VBS went off without a hitch. All was right with the world.
Until Chris came home from school the day after the article appeared in the Sunday paper about a week later. Kids in his class had heard about it and both Chris & Kyle’s names had also appeared in the article. Chris was livid! But after I explained that I didn’t seek out the publicity, he calmed down and seemed okay with it. Another Whew!!
I was soooo glad when this ordeal was finally over and done with! I have never discovered how or why God chose me to do this, but I must remember that God doesn’t need to keep me in the loop. My role is as a servant, not a manager. Or a boss. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:8-9
There was a concert going on in Sackett’s Harbor Park today at 3pm, so around 1:00, we headed over. Sackett’s Harbor is the next town over and only a few minutes drive from here. The information we’d gathered all mentioned stopping at their Visitor Center, so that’s what we did first.
From there, we walked around a few block area and included a short trail with War of 1812 information boards scattered along it. All the time, we could hear the band preparing to perform.
It was the first evening of their weekly summer concert in the park series. They have a multitude of different types of musicians scheduled. We were very pleased that tonight was a jazz band. 😊 The Sacci Band has played in the Concert on the Waterfront series since it’s inception 35 years ago! They were excellent! The adults and children made it about an hour until they just couldn’t hold in their words anymore. 😊
