Last Wednesday our dear friend Tammy turned 24 years old--an age none of us, not even her, can believe she's reached. Now, before you throw a hissy fit, screaming, "That's not old! What are you talking about?!" let me explain that it's because this cute, pixyish, toe-head blonde is very young at heart, and, sorry Tammy, sometimes a bit naive, too. Which made her surprise parties a lot easier. For everyone's birthday, since it's difficult to be away from home, we usually hold a party the date the event actually occurred, and do an additional something-or-other on one of the weekends close to that day. This could be anything from ice skating (Tricia) to just eating (me ) depending on the preference of the honored individual. In Tammy's case, all she requested was that she not have to plan anything and suggested that a surprise might be nice. We rose to the challenge...four times over. The list of surprises we managed to keep that way are as follows: 1.Subs on her actual birthday. She's not a whiny person, but I do think I remember several long sighs as the word "Subway" rolled off her drooling tongue on several occasions. 2. Buying her own birthday present. Yes. I kid you not. Lis asked Tammy to buy lotion for her [Lis], and to pick whatever scent she [Tammy] liked. You should have seen the look on Tammy's face when she opened it! 3. A surprise chili lunch on Saturday. She thought she was going to Cristy's apartment to get her hair done for salsa dancing. 4. Salsa dancing. There was none. Even though we all dressed up hot and cute to make the facade believable, we knew Tammy was concerned that not everyone would enjoy such an activity, so, knowing she wouldn't have fun unless we were all having fun, we took her bowling instead. In our dancing get-ups. She didn't know we were bowling until we were actually inside the alley because we covered her eyes the last 1/8 mile The web of lies we had to weave was quite intricate to keep her from finding us out - and I'm sure they didn't all agree, but Tammy, being the true, trusting friend that she is, took us at our word every time. Thus, I think her requests were met - she had no clue about anything. Yesterday was good, too, but in different ways. We had our second high school Bible study, our first having been held last Sunday. Last week we had the kids (five of them - four boys and one girl) draw pictures of who or what they thought God was. We got a variety of responses - one example being a light shining in the sky, but most drawings were mixed with a bit of what I perceived as "I really have no idea." So, this week, we began to talk about/teach on what God is - what defines him as a being. Here are our points if you're interested: There is one God God has many names He has no beginning and no end Nothing made God and he was before everything He knows everything He is everywhere He can do anything He is invisible God loves all people God loves___(your name)___ It's incredible how amazing these strike you as when you actually teach them. Having grown up in the church, I don't remember a time when I was first made aware of these truths. But. Wow. We were praying God would supernaturally make things clear that we could not even really explain to someone in their native tongue, but we weren't sure if the kids were really processing much of what we said until the questions began. Just the fact that they asked questions is amazing, Japanese people being usually so reserved, but then we thought about what they were asking and we were pretty much floored. Q#1 Why is God a "he"? Q#2 Does God love Saddam Hussein [the same way he loves all people]? Q#3 Does God love trees less than he loves people? Why? Really think about these questions...how would you answer them? Then think about your answers - especially to #s 2 and 3. When you try to explain these things to fresh minds who have never heard such things before, it makes you really think about what you're saying. I serve a God who has no start or end, who knows everything from the number of stars in the sky to my deepest secrets, who is in this room with me as I write just as he is in heaven, who is able to split an ocean in half or move the mountain outside my apartment window with nothing more than a whisper, and who loves someone like Saddam Hussein, like me, enough to put himself through unfathomable amounts of pain, torture and anguish. So that we might be forgiven. So that we might know him. So that we might call him Lord, Daddy, Friend. Think about it...