Vacation Time and A Conversation With Joshua

Vacation Time

We're in Florida at Rebecca's grandmother's condo. We were returning from a weekend in Chattanooga when Rebecca's grandmother invited us down to see her. We've been in our van more than we've been in our beds lately, but it's fun. I once heard a joke about three reasons to become a teacher. June, July, and August.

Rebecca's grandmother has a Wii and a game called 'Paper Mario.' Watching it is worse than watching IMAX movies about how many dolphins and whales I've managed to kill from my home in Franklin. If you go to Chattanooga, skip the dolphin movie. On the bright side, if I go before Rebecca, she has Mario.

Tonight's conversation with Joshua

"Hey, buddy, look at the boat. I think they're going to look for dolphins."

"Oh, they're going to Chattanooga?"

The Aquarium

I'm scared to death of animals. Not just the big ones. I'm scared of dogs and cats, too. We were standing by the stingray tank where you're allowed to touch them. The only thing I know about stingrays is they're capable of killing men who hunt crocodiles. I didn't want to touch one, but I tried. I kid you not, the thing tried to come after me. He literally climbed the glass wall and tried to get me. I can't tell you how much courage I had to muster to touch the thing. I don't know why animals like to play with me, but they do. I know a lot of people who want to believe there will be animals in heaven. If there are animals, I hope they're more respectful of my space.

One of the coolest places in the aquarium was the butterfly sanctuary. There were thousands of butterflies flying around a huge room. As I was walking through the butterflies I heard the butterfly emcee talk about the freedom the butterflies feel because there are no predators in the room. It made me think of the promise of the coming kingdom. There's a day coming when everything that feels like a predator (sin, sickness, depression, fear) will be abolished forever. I had never seen more than one butterfly fly so freely. Watching thousands was amazing. It's a picture of the freedom God's people will experience one day.