Those kids to the left, our youngest two children, are the cause of a lot of laughter in our family, as well as some head-scratching moments when we sit back and say, "What?!" This past Sunday was a good example...
We've recently found ourselves in a position of freedom on Sundays. In the past few years, Nate has been serving as interim and transitional pastors at different churches, and thus our Sundays are always planned out. However, since he just finished his latest transitional pastorate, we've found ourselves with the unique opportunity to decide what we want to do each Sunday.
We've enjoyed the chance to visit a few different churches and relax more. This past Sunday - we made a rare choice to visit a large church in Columbia. Not since attending Second Baptist Church of Houston do I remember visiting a really large church - and that was many years ago. This was less than half the size of that Houston church, but for us, it was still huge. I was anxious to see what my younger kids thought of it - since they've never experienced anything other than our small, rural congregations.
Thus, after we left the church's second of three services and were heading out for a Sunday afternoon drive (with the freedom of not having to make it back in time for committee meetings or evening services) I asked my youngest kids, "So, what did you think of that church service? Kind of different?"
Right away, the eleven-year-old chimed in, "The best part was when everyone stood up all together, and then sat down all together!"
"YEAH!" shouted the nine-year-old in agreement.
What??! No mention of the extremely cool and talented worship band - the theater type seats - the dual large screens - the skinny-jean-clad pastor - the bookstore - the coffee shop?
Just people standing up and sitting down???
"But we stand up and sit down during our smaller church's worship service," I felt compelled to explain.
"I know - but when ALL those people stand up together, it looks really cool and it makes a loud noise," was their simple clarification.
I love kids' fresh and unique take on things. Theirs, however, made me wonder if King Solomon should have added just one more item to his famous Ecclesiastes 3 passage. I can just see it now, perhaps right after "a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;" he should have added this little addendum for my kids' sake, "A time to stand up, and a time to sit down." Or it could have been, "A time to make a lot of noise while standing & sitting, and a time to refrain from making a lot of noise."
Yup - someday in Heaven I'll ask Solomon why he neglected to add that little tidbit.
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