He Came From a Long Line of Losers

A couple of years ago I started a new Christmas tradition for our family. I made small charm-like ornaments and a stick tree that serve as a Jesse Tree. It has become a nice addition to our nightly bedtime routine during the days leading up to Christmas. Each night we place that day's ornament on the Jesse Tree and read the scriptures that tell the Biblical story associated with the picture on the charm. It really is a wonderful way to see God's plan for our salvation through His Son, Jesus.

Tonight our story was from the book of Ruth. As I read the scriptures telling the story of Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi I would elaborate on parts to help Sweet G better understand. When I read the part where Ruth was gleaning the fields of Boaz I began to explain that Ruth and Naomi were poor widows and that Ruth worked very hard to gather the wheat that was left or dropped in the field. I told Sweet G that Ruth was an ancestor of Jesus and that her family had worshipped false idols but she had chosen to follow Naomi and worship the one true God. At this point in my story Sweet G asked, "Is it sort of like a long line of losers?" After a short chuckle I began to regain my composure and the thought hit me that G wasn't really that far off. I reviewed the story of Abraham and Sarah, how Abraham lied and Sarah laughed when God promised a son would be born to them. Noah, although found righteous, at one time became drunk. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and hid from Him, then lied about their actions. I skipped ahead to Rahab the harlot and realized that Sweet G spoke the truth when he suggested that Jesus came from a long line of losers. It provided a great opportunity to share with G that God uses average people and loves us in spite of our poor choices.

I'll never hear that country song again without thinking of my sweet Savior. "He comes from a long line of losers. Half outlaws, half boozers." I'm so thankful that God can take someone who has a sinful past full of mistakes and regrets, someone whose family tree may have some questionable characters hanging in it and choose to love them and use them for His glory. Grace, grace. God's grace. Oh, how sweet His love is.

FaceTime Sweet G Style

It's been a while since I've written a post about Sweet G but that does not mean there haven't been stories to tell. For instance, G discovered FaceTime almost a year ago. At first it was another way for him to communicate with me. It didn't matter if I was away from home or simply sitting on the other end of the sofa, it was his favorite means of communicating with me. When Trey informed him that he could also FaceTime him, he became his new favorite FaceTime friend. Then came Hannah, my nephew's fiancé. A few weeks ago he found out that Aunt
D-vette (my sister Davette) was available to FaceTime and she is now his favorite contact.

I love to sit and listen to their conversations. Aunt D-vette lives in another state so we don't see her very often so G's antics are somewhat new and delightful to her. His FaceTime calls during her nursing classes and during her shift in the CCU have yet to drive her crazy, or at least she isn't admitting it yet. G calls her from his iPod touch all the time. I regularly get texts from her with messages to G letting him know she is unavailable because anyone who knows kids knows the don't give up easily and ignoring them does nothing to change their mind.

Last week I overheard him and Aunt D-vette talking and got quite a chuckle out of their interaction. Since we have very limited television selection (basic cable only) G had my sister channel surfing for something good to watch. She found something he wanted to see and pointed her phone toward the television so G could watch the program! I think he was watching SpongeBob which he could watch on Netflix from his iPod, the iPad, or on our television. It was just more fun to watch it on Aunt D-vette's tv.

He inquires regularly about the viewing choices on Comedy Central when he talks to her because he is positive that some day there will be a program on that he can watch. He's been praying for Bill Engvall and Ron White on a regular basis for a while now in hopes that they will get saved and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and stop saying cuss words, smoking, and drinking liquor. He's kinda given up on Jeff Dunham, Walter, and Achmed the Dead Terrorist getting right and stopped praying for them a while back.

So, that's what we've been doing around our house. FaceTiming Aunts and having them show you around their house and watch tv while fake eating eggs she cooks for you. He also attended her fake Thanksgiving celebration a couple of nights ago via FaceTime (nursing school, work, and clinicals interfered with the real Thanksgiving and since it was on a different day G says its fake). I don't think he ate anything that night. He just visited with the other guests and checked out the tv listings.