Magical Monday --- My First PAID Show

From the time I was 7, I was used to showing tricks to my family, having teachers ask me to show tricks in school, and of course sharing with all my friends my latest tricks. However, I never saw a dime out of it. It wasn't until I was in 8th grade that I was asked to do my first paid performance. One of my teacher's husband was a driver for a local Amish Community (if they needed to go to a Dr.'s appointment, go to the store in town, etc) and they wanted to do something special for them...so they hired me to do a show at one of the Amish family houses.

So, for a whopping fee of $25, I agreed to do a 1/2 hour show (OK, $50 an hour isn't bad for a 14-year-old). Back then I had all my tricks in a large black trunk that I would lug around. Once I arrived, I said one of the dumbest things I've ever said at a performance --- wanting to get my tape player ready (this is still before CD's!!!), I asked the head of the house (an older Amish gentleman), "Where can I plug this thing in?". Actually, it ended up not being too dumb, as he went and got some type of generator that allowed me to run the tape player.

I am soooooo glad for that generator! Back in those days, I was way to shy to say a word during a show. I would do the entire 1/2 hour show without making a peep. I should have just painted my face white and been a mime as well. That stayed true until my senior year of high school (I'll tell the story of why that changed on a different Monday...now my show has a ton of jokes and audience participation).

So anyway, I was set and ready to go, and about 15 Amish kids sat on the floor in front of me. Now if you ask a "non-Amish" child what a magician and magic is, they can pretty much give you a description of what it's all about. But not these kids! They were clueless who I was, what a magician was all about, and what to expect. The older kids (ages 10-15) absolutely loved the show and it was a real treat for them. But those poor younger ones sat there with a glazed look of horror on their faces...not sure what to think. When I did my "floating ball" one of the little girls ran off crying hysterically. After the show, some of the adults asked another of the young kids what they thought, and they just sat there with a blank stare and couldn't speak.

I got my $25 and of course bought some more magic, but who knows what damage I did to those unsuspecting kids! Every time I see or hear about something bad happening in an Amish community, I pray I never hear, "My problems all started when this kid came to my house with this black trunk"...

Family/Friend Friday --- ALMOST the Perfect Mom

REMINDER --- Today we leave for Gettysburg for vacation for a week...there will be no Blogs next week. Come back on July 14th!

Growing up, I had a great mother! She was always there for me and my brother and sister for everything. She always took care of us when we were sick, got out of bed to get us a drink of water, never missed any of our sporting events, concerts, etc (even to this day she shows up at every single magic show I do within an hour of DuBois!), planned special vacations for us, and the list could go on and on. However, there was one area that prevented her from being the "perfect" mom --- COOKING

It is strange that she lacks in this area (she would agree with this as well) because her mom and grandma are the best cooks! Thankfully my grandma (her mom) lived right across the street growing up, so I knew I could always venture over to her house for a good meal. It wasn't as if she didn't try --- things would just never turn out right. And things as easy as heating up a meal could into disaster. Just last Thanksgiving my mom was attempting to heat up the dinner my grandma prepared and accidentally left the oven mitt in the oven filling the house with smoke and setting all the alarms off.

My dad could tell you stories about her culinary "attempts" all day long. For me, one story sticks out more than the rest. It was back when I was in college and home for Christmas. I walked into the house and my mom was in the kitchen making something to take to my aunt's house for Christmas Eve. She looked very proud of her creation --- peanut butter fudge. She asked me to try some, and I should have learned my lesson not to, but it did look and smell really good.

So I took a bite, and it was actually really good! I gave her some compliments, and took another bite. However, this time I tasted something unique...kind of like paper. Out of my mouth I pulled some wax paper. She assured me that I wouldn't find any more, but in the next bite...more wax paper. As we looked through all the fudge, we found more wax paper! What was going on?

Turns out the recipe called for a stick of butter. My mom used one of those sticks of butter that come in the clear wax paper rather than the shiny silver paper:

So when she was cooking and had to melt the butter, she threw in the entire stick...wrapper and all. But...at least after all those years, she still tried! After all, we can't be perfect at everything.

Theological Thursday --- What are You Missing???

Take a look at the following FedEx logo and see if you can find an arrow (don't keep reading until you've really checked it out)...
-

-
Did you look? Did you find it? I promise there is one there...
-
Take a look at the white area between the letter "E" and "X". See the arrow pointing to the right?
-
How many times do we have things placed right before us and yet we miss them? In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob (Abraham's grandson) goes on a journey and meets 2 sisters...Leah and Rachel. Jacob immediately falls in love with Rachel. The Bible tells us that Leah was, "weak in the eyes". There is a lot of debate about what "weak in the eyes" means, but we know it is not a euphemism for "ugly"...but it is explaining something that is physically different about her eyes (some scholars say delicate, some say beautiful, some say she had some type of physical condition wrong with her eyes that stood out). But one thing is clear...Jacob could look into Leah's eyes and know (based on her "weak eyes") that it was Leah.
-
As the story goes, Jacob agrees to work 7 years for their father in order to marry Rachel. In verse 20, we see how much he loved Rachel as the Bible said the 7 years "only seemed like a few days" because of his love for her. When his 7 years is up Jacob asked (vs. 21) not for Rachel, but for the father to bring him his wife (not a good idea since he is dealing with a family known for deceit!). So the father instead bring Leah to be his bride. Jacob marries her and doesn't realize it wasn't Rachel until after the wedding night.
-
So how could Jacob NOT know he was given the wrong woman? Well, consider the following ancient bridal veils...
-

-
So when you combine the two, Leah's body and head would have been pretty much completely covered...making it difficult for the average person to make the distinction. BUT WAIT --- remember what set Leah apart? It was her eyes! So the one body part that made Leah very unique was the only part showing. It's also interesting in verse 23 that the father "waited until evening" to pull off this deception...making it more difficult in the night sky. But next time you are out at night, see what body part you can see best on those around you...it's their eyes!
-
So Jacob's answer was truly right in front of him, but he didn't take the time to really see what was placed before him. What do you have in your life that God has placed before you that you do not see? Don't miss the Blessings He has already given you that you just don't see!!!
-
As a side note...you'll never look at a FedEx truck the same way again! That arrow will be the first thing you notice from now on.

What's Up Wednesday --- July 2nd

1) Tomorrow we leave for family vaction to Gettysburg (it is their big reinactment year). We will be gone until July 12th. I will have a Blog posted tomorrow and Friday, but none next week.

2) Our visit with the pastor and his wife went great last week! However, the other candidate has been a full-time small groups pastor in a very large church (they have more than 1 full-time small group pastors) for 8 years...and based on experience they are pursuing him first. It is discouraging all the time and effort over the past 6 months to come up empty, but encouraging that they received "a huge pile" (as we were told) of interested candidates, and I made it into the final two.

3) Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. I'll be sure to add a story about her on Family/Friend Friday this week.

4) My Wednesday night elective is over, so I can relax on Wednesday nights now...except for tonight as I have an elder's meeting.

5) My Gospel magic show on Sunday went very well. They had several "guests" in children's church that attended Vacation Bible School the week before. Several of the kids responded to the Gospel message during Bible school, and a few more on Sunday morning at my show.

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Shot

Back when I was a teenager, I would go hunting with my dad and his friends every year. We would always start out as a big group (about 15-20 of us), but as was tradition several people would get in a fight about something every year, and our group would dwindle as hunting season went on.

On this particular year, I shot a buck out of my tree stand early in the morning and my dad had gotten one during archery season so we were pretty much done for the day as far as shooting deer. But we would put on "drives" for the other hunters in our group to give them a better chance at getting a deer as well. Basically in a "drive", those who had not gotten a deer would stand on one side of the woods, while those who had gotten a deer would line up on the opposite end and walk toward them making noise trying to get the deer to move toward the hunters on the other end ready to shoot.

On one of our drives that day, there were about 7 hunters on one end, and 7 drivers (including my dad and I) on the other. The drivers stand about 75 yards apart (just barely close enough that we could see the person on our left and on our right). Some of the drivers hadn't gotten a deer yet, so they were carrying guns too as they walked. As we walked through the woods trying to push the deer to the hunters on the other end, someone shot. A few seconds later, they shot again. At the end of the drive we all gathered by the vehicles, and nobody had a deer.

People started asking who shot their gun. Everyone denied it. My dad and I sat back and listened since we weren't even carrying guns. Before long, as happens every year, people started arguing and accusing people of lying and people got mad and left since someone was obviously not telling the truth.

As my dad and I headed home in the truck he said, "Do you know who was doing all that shooting?"...I had my theories, but said I didn't know for sure. He said, "Well, I do". Then he pulled out a handful of M-80 (very powerful!) firecrackers from his pocket. It was my dad setting these off to get people all riled up (as he loves to do).

So that ends my 3-week Tuesday series on fireworks in honor of the 4th of July. Next year, I'll be sure to tell you what happens when you "accidentally" light a firework in the house (don't worry mom, it wasn't ours), and what happens when you take the powder out of 500 firecrackers, roll it in paper towels and light it all as once. I have to believe that's what Francis Scott Key did as he wrote in the Star Spangled Banner, "And the rockets red glare"...