

For Lord’s Day, September 18, 2021
Dear Saints,
Take a look at my parking job at church this afternoon! I only noticed upon returning to get something else out of the car I had forgotten!
I thought it’d be fun to share for two purposes:
- It is a reminder to get proper rest and sleep. As the Westminster Larger Catechism 135 reminds us, duties required in the 6th commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, include “ … a sober use of meat, drink, physics, sleep, labour, and recreations …” Not too long ago we revisited this catechism and concept in this sermon, Proper and Adequate Sleep is a Needed Blessing. Well, as with the personal context of that sermon, we can’t always control getting proper sleep perfectly (no matter what we tried last night, our 10-month old could not be lulled while majorly teething so Mommy and Daddy are lagging today!). But we need to adjust and accommodate as we can (Mommy and Daddy will be napping soon this afternoon and I’ll be doing brief topical sermons after a really busy week on manse renovations and admin and advertising stuff that is going well and won’t always need such attention but are presently challenging to manage while sleep depraved). Thanks for your continual understanding and encouragement.
- It’s a reminder that its good to laugh. And it’s good to laugh at ourselves and with others (in a chummy, mutually self-deprecating and respectful way). I had to laugh as I reviewed my reverse parking job (why I usually don’t even try: don’t know how some of you do it especially with your big trucks!)! Thankfully, there were no civilian casualties! Perhaps I should be banned to park far out in the far lot for worship and fellowship times! I want to invite you to join in laughing with me. As we all know, we’ve ALL had quite the week in our different situations. Let’s share a hearty chuckle at my parking job together, while I rejoice that I do NOT need to take a DMV drivers test again to renew my license when the time arises! We had this sermon a while back on how Laughter Can Minister. It was based on Proverbs 15:13, 15; 17:22 and Philippians 4:4. Let me highlight the main verse for that sermon, Proverbs 17:22: A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
If you don’t mind, before I lay myself down to sleep and trust the Lord to care for our souls with our limited resources, let me share one more thing that I had fun guffawing over with the kids this week that I first saw at a Christian planetarium in the Bahamas many years ago (hopefully you share the same humor as the Van Locos family: the first time I saw this I think it took about an hour to peel me off the floor in a pool of hysteric tears and convulsions!):
Wait for it ……. kee hee hee. Timing and surprise is everything with comedy. Hope this came to you just at the right time. And brought some healing making merry with me. 🙂
Semper Reformanda,
Pastor Grant
Categories: Joy and Laughter