What a Sunday! - The Good, the Bad, and the Busy

I got up this morning...after hitting the snooze alarm twice. I went to my daughter's room to wake her up for church. She and a couple other young girls were singing a special song in church this morning, and Rachel wasn't happy with the dress we had agreed on the night before. 

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It took awhile, but we finally were ready and headed off to church in good spirits. We stopped by a local Rite-Aid on the way to church. When we got back to the car, it wouldn't start. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to turn over. It didn't even seem to try to turn over. 

All I could think of was that this was NOT the best day to have car problems. I had several things going this morning.

• The girls were singing, and I was to accompany them on piano. One of the girls was also being baptized this morning, so a bit of juggling had to be done to the order of service so she was not wet during the special music.
• I had to teach children's church after the girls' song was done. 
• Mom and I had signed up to bring refreshments for the fellowship time after the morning service. Yet another thing to do.

Anyway, I called Dad and asked him to pick us up. He and Mom had just arrived at church. He let Mom out and came back to get us. The three of us brought the refreshments into the kitchen and went to our various Sunday School classes.

When Sunday School was over, the music minister asked me if I was ready for the dramatic monologue we had talked about doing several weeks earlier. Ummmm, yeah, I can be ready. For some reason, I had thought we were talking about doing it on Easter Sunday or Good Friday. He thought we had planned it for the Baptismal Service.

Thankfully, I have had the monologue memorized for years, and God helped me to remember the words well enough that...with a couple exceptions which I hope weren't too noticeable, I think it went pretty well.

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OK, the reading was done. The girls sang. After some praise and worship time, we celebrated three baptisms. All the kids headed down for children's church. We didn't have a lot of time, so we sang a song and dived right into the lesson.

I was perhaps three sentences into the lesson when one of the little girls asked the all-important question. 

          "When are we going to have snacks?"

          "I made cookies, sweetie. My mom made brownies. You'll have snack in the fellowship hall right after church." The prospect of brownies and cookies to come seemed to satisfy her.

With everything else going on today, I was very thankful that another lady had prepared crafts to go with our lesson. I finished the teaching, and left her and two helpers to do the crafts while I helped Mom set up the refreshments. 

When the service let out, one of the men from my dad's Sunday School class asked if I needed some help getting my car running. (Dad couldn't help me because he had to attend a training for anyone who teaches adult classes.) I gratefully accepted his help, and he and his wife took me back to Rite Aid to check things out.

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The car still wouldn't start. The oil was low...really, really low...so we filled that up. He jump-started the car, and got it going. I turned it off and started it again. Good. One more time...and it didn't start. Another quick jumpstart, and it was going again. Needless to say, I let the car run for awhile to let the battery charge up. 
 
I am so thankful for this brother and sister in Christ who were willing to go out of their way to help me. 

Later in the afternoon, I took the car to Auto Zone to have the battery tested. I am thankful that it is OK and doesn't need replaced just now. I suspect there is a wire coming loose in the jury-rigged push-button starter that is causing the problem. Needless to say, that needs to be dealt with ASAP.
I just hope and pray that the car starts in the morning so I can get to work. 

So, this has been a day full of the good, the bad, and the busy. 

Busy...for obvious reasons.
Bad...because of a car that wouldn't start.
Good...because:

• We had a good day to worship the Lord.
• Three people were baptized.
• The girls had their first experience using their singing to minister to others.
• I didn't forget the words to the monologue...at least not too badly.
• God moved His people to offer help where help was needed...the way church should be.

All-in-all, I must say that in the midst of all the busy, the good far outweighed the bad. 

What a Sunday!