Saturday, August 16, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Grandsons
You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Jasper spent the day with us yesterday, and we had a great time. He’s six and sometimes uses big words and phrases, like “I’m infuriated!” That was because a donut he sculpted this spring at a sculpture store, which he left there to be glazed and fired, never got back to him. But his fury was short-lived; he was “in-joying” everything about the day. He decided that a fine career when he grew up and could drive and stuff, would be to start a sculpture store like the one he was infuriated by. He would make sure that if a sculpture ever got lost he would give free time to the sculptor to make another one. So there!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
In the apartment swimming pool we cavorted for awhile, chasing my hat and trying to manage the pressure of the water jets on our backs. “Spin me around, Grandpa, and then be a good horse and buck me over to the other side of the pool.” He wanted to know the directions. East to west, and north to south. Come on horsey! Let’s go.
We made a chocolate cake together, and he was the mixer man. He also spread the icing, understanding from experience with his mom that the chocolate cake must be entirely invisible under the vanilla icing. After awhile we left our own kitchen for the apartment office, where an impromptu barbecue drew enough apartment dwellers to eat up all the food by 4 pm. Jasper had some pulled bbq chicken and a glass of rootbeer.
Are we happy to have Jasper with us? That would be a resounding “yes!” One first grade assignment for this week was to learn to play rummy. So Margaret and Jasper played rummy, and Jasper led 120-20 after the first hand. He thought that would be a good time to stop, after that one winning hand. I think he’ll want to play more rummy sooner rather than later. (Unlike the Chicago Cubs, who keep losing while their rival Milwaukee Brewers have won thirteen games in a row, Jasper may even keep winning his rummy games.)
We capped off the day with a short visit to the Austin Aquarium, where for the fifth or sixth time this year (we had a membership and could go anytime) he fed the sting rays and petted the small sharks and giant orange and yellow koi fish that filled one of the aquarium tanks. We admired (from a distance) a very large coiled python and a beautiful green snake asleep under the lights. Margaret and Jasper played a short game of digital football under a different set of lights. And as we were about to leave, a family gave Jasper two leftover tokens, so he got three toys from the gift shop instead of one. Big smiles!
If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve.
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
The Tomita family, three sons strong, serve the Lord. They often find ways to share cakes and cookies with their neighbors. Andi and Aki have been church teachers and small group facilitators for many years. Miles, Jasper and Finn can follow in their strong footsteps, and we are happy to be watching and praying for them every day.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Yes, You are my inheritance, O Lord.
(Joshua 24, Psalm 16, Matthew 11, Matthew 19)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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