The Sitter Routine

Two Mondays ago we had a babysitter come over. As soon as she got there I went about the usual routine of showing her around the house. I did the usual things you would expect. I showed her the milk in the fridge, the changing table upstairs, and the basket where all the toys are. Gabby can be pretty fussy when mom and dad are gone, so I shared with her a secret one of our babysitters tried. Gabby was crying inconsolably and the babysitter decided to try and fool Gabby into thinking one of either mom or dad was really there. Because the babysitter was white, she thought it would be impossible to fool Gabby into thinking Irie was home, so she decided to dress up like me. “So,” I told this babysitter, “if you get desperate here is where I keep my jackets and hat.”

After all those preliminary details, I finally came to the serious stuff. “In case of emergency,” I said, “here are all our contact numbers, and here is my cell phone you can feel free to use at any time, and here, mounted on the wall, is our fire extinguisher.” “Well, I hope Gabby won’t be setting any fires,” she said. “Well you never know,” I said, “she is a preacher’s kid after all.”

Philly 2

We returned yesterday from our trip down to Philly. We had a great time hanging out in the city with my sister Brooke. "Aunt Brooke" as I kept on calling her.

I said that we were going to worship at Central Baptist Church in Wayne. It turns out they are only about half a block down from the original Anthropology store. Brooke works at the Anthropology in Dallas and she was wanting to see the original store while in Philly. So here we were, thirty minutes outside of Philly and both of us were exactly where we wanted to be. A grace from God.

And then an even more amazing grace. I said in my last post that my relationship with Brooke was one with some baggage (which relationship isn't?). Part of the baggage was the fact that growing up Brooke lived beneath my shadow. I was good in school and athletics - two things valued in our house and in our community- while Brooke struggled to find her own unique gifts. It was the classic case of one sibling filling the refrigerator door with awards, accolades, etc. while the other sibling is made to often feel left out in the cold. The really great thing about the trip was this was Brooke's deal. She is making her own way in the world and finally discovering the unique gifts she has.

Anyway, we made our way to worship on Sunday at Central Baptist and Marcus Pomeroy, one of the pastors on staff there, preached a sermon about hope. There were three points (he said his sermons never have three points) and I have to admit I have already forgotten the first two. But the third point. That was all grace. It was about some friends of his who have struggled for fifteen or so years to bring up two children. And guess what...the first, their son, grew up the golden boy, filling the refrigerator with all his accolades and awards, while the second, their daughter, struggled to even make it out of high school. The point (the third point that is) was that Marcus' friends never gave up on their daughter, and this year she was honored with a certificate for outstanding academic achievement by her college. Finally, the mom said, the refigerator door was made complete.

Like I said, a grace.