Of mice and men

I guess the Lord's Day really can't go wrong, although it does have a nice try at it at times. I knew that yesterday would be a little out of the ordinary, but I didn't realize how variant it would be from my schedule.

The morning rolled along pretty well as expected. We attended the parenting Sunday school class taught by Bill Rose, although there wasn't a lot of teaching. It was more or less a brainstorming session as the teacher tried to determine what direction to take the class in coming weeks. I missed about half of the class, changing Elijah's diaper and trying to get him to take his bottle, to no avail.

In church, Pastor Paul preached on starting the new year off right, mostly goal-setting and the like. I don't have a real clear picture of all of his points, because again I was in the lobby trying to get Elijah to eat. This time he finally wore out and took it. It was good to chat with members of our small group, Dwight, Jonathan and Darla, etc.

We had Mom and Dad down for lunch. It was an enjoyable time of visiting, and we played a game of Oink! and by time they left, it was nearly 3:00. I lay down in front of the TV and watched the Chiefs' poor imitation of a football game. Fortunately, I got a little nap in there because I was really dragging.

Shortly after halftime, it was time for Tiff and I to go on our date, postponed because of the New Year's Eve party we had attended on Friday. After leaving Elijah with Mom and Dad, we went to Cascone's Italian Restaurant and then to the Kansas City 18 Cinema to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Tiff's parents called us on our way home. We arrived home a little after 10:00, so I recorded our finances, had family devotions and went to bed.

So, once again, I had no time for reading, for focused time with Elijah or for exercise. I didn't even get my shower. I pushed that off until this morning because I didn't have to go to work.

I don't see any pressing reason why today shouldn't go reasonably on schedule. I do wonder when I'm going to run some of my errands, but I have a 2-hour block this afternoon when I would normally be at work. Maybe I'll make a cake.

I'm having a little trouble drawing devotional thoughts from the stories in the early parts of Genesis. My mind tends to pick out the problematic verses, rather than seeing God's overarching scheme. I think I do recognize those themes that are always brought about in discussions of these passages, but I would like to glean some new gem, specifically something that could be directly applied to my life.

This morning I read the story of the flood. I'm not sure if it's more a story of God's provision or His judgment. Maybe it doesn't have to be either/or. Something in me rebels against the idea that Noah was saved based on his righteousness and against the idea that his sons were saved on the basis of their father's righteousness.