Day 101

Scripture: Ps 87, 90, 136; 1 Samuel 4:1b-11;  Acts 4:32—5:11; Luke 2:20-28


Scripture standout: Acts 4 "No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had."


Morning thoughts: What would the world look like if we all did things this way?


His Deed/The Day: So the bus, formerly known as Beast Master, made another trip to the mosque today. We watched Edris play some mad basketball in the Islamic Center BBall Tournament. That was so much fun, we decided to keep things rolling and truck on out to the beach. With Ke$ha making my bus' sides shudder, we headed east and south. We surprised my mother-in-law with an impromptu visit from six smiling Afghan boys ready for some sand and waves. I believe two of the boys wore her shorts because we had not brought bathing suits.

Something that struck me today. It was how gracious and thankful these boys were to Gigi. After lunch, each one came into the house to thank her for the meal and for having them out there. With each show of gratitude, she beamed. I was reminded how important it is to be humbly thankful — and what an impact it makes on others. And maybe it does come back around to sharing everything you have. Gigi literally shared everything she had in her fridge — she cooked the boys up amazing homemade pizza, grapes and orange. And look what grace came back to her ten-fold! Six grinning boys, saying "thank you, Gigi!"

Tonight, Edris came over to play the piano. I don't have much to share with Edris, but he asked me to share my rudimentary piano skills with him. Like some of the other boys, he is killing himself to learn Fur Elise. Can I tell you how many nights we've been hearing E, D#, E, D#, E... I quit taking piano lessons when I was a freshman, so my piano is pretty limited. But I could share some note names and dang if I didn't play Fur Elise! I could share what I had...And he is very thankful. He wants to come back every day to practice. Again, I shake my head in comparison to how my kids react to practicing piano.

One last thing that made my day. Qodrat ran a race today at UNF. He won first place! Now he is chatty all night...just like any kid, sharing the smallest of details about the race and how things went down. As I write, he is still sharing details and has now moved on to descriptions of his orphanage. As I was collecting his dirty clothes moments ago he said, "Mom...Man tora dost doram." I love you. Thanks goes a long way, but those words go even further.