Getting Kari'd Away

Years ago I worked for a very nice summer day camp. During camp we would have morning meetings and review important details for the day. At every meeting there were comment cards that were read. Parents or coworkers could anonymously fill one out and submit it for a camp employee. When an employee received 3 of these cards they would receive a special pin called a Bravo Zulu. The Bravo Zulu symbolized a job well done. They were put on your name tag and everyone saw it. I worked very hard my first summer and always hoped for a Bravo Zulu, but didn't get one. Not receiving the coveted Bravo Zulu that summer always bothered me. Recently it made me think of the story of the prodigal son. I always heard messages about that story but didn't get them. All I could hear was the brother of the prodigal son did all that hard work, made the right choices and didn't get one Bravo Zulu. I always felt like he got jipped, he got shafted. No parties for him, no celebration because he

A while back, I put on a cute new shirt I received as a gift. I had to laugh because, this pretty shirt, with a large branch of sequins covering most of the shirt, only came with one little replacement sequin in the baggy attached to the tag. One, that's it! For the whole shirt!! That seemed so crazy to me that they wouldn't even give you two! A few days later in my small group we watched a video. The video we watched talked about rain and the times of our life that are like rain. Not just the pretty rain that ends with a lovely rainbow, but the rain that pounds down, changes your plans and just plain makes you wish rain didn't exist. That type of rain can be seen in many of our lives, at any given moment. You know those types of times. The times when you feel all alone, you just want to give in, you just want to quit or you need a break. The video painted a picture, that for me, as a parent, was easy to understand. If one of my sons fall and hurt himself, has a bad d