Daily treasures

Despite the threat of a hurricane, Tiffany and I hauled the chairs and tables on the back of the truck up to the Spanish church to the back of Blackman Eddy.  It is less than a mile from the highway and yet it is in the bush.  On Sunday mornings Tiffany and I have a Sunday school for the children back there.  They all come from Spanish speaking families so they are learning English at the same time! They range in age from 2 to 12 years old.  Most of them are in the middle range.  This morning we learned about David and Goliath.  Esnider got to stand on a chair and pretend he was the giant.  There was the problem that Esnider always has a smile.  So Darwin gave him lessons on making a mean face.  He lowered his eyebrows, squinted his eyes and tightened his lips into a straight line and growled.  Esnider tried to do the same and we all agreed it was good enough.  Nigel was David and everyone cheered when Goliath fell to the floor(somewhat carefully) and David cut off his head.  Later while we were cutting out stick puppets, Jaleel cut off David’s head.  Everyone was laughing and telling Jaleel that he cut off the wrong head!

After we repacked the truck, we took off down the dirt road.  The ruts and holes are definitely a challenge with the back bed full of tables and chairs.  The children help to load it up and so sometimes things can be situated rather precariously on top of each other.  A few yards down the road we stopped and asked Ingrid, Shelby and Rigo if they wanted a ride down to their houses.  As they jumped and climbed into the back of the truck, I was noticing the trees across the way.  All of a sudden a black bird flew in front of us and coasted in for a landing on a tree limb just a few feet away.  The tree limb seemed to be really weighted down but the bird wasn’t all that big.  I kept watching out of curiosity and saw that the branch continued to bounce around.  Then the bird turned his head.  It was bright yellow.  As he reached up for a small plum, I saw the long, curved beak.  He hopped around again and I saw the red and green under him.  I have to admit, I went a little crazy.  ”Tiff, look, it’s a toucan.  Right in front of us!”  Sure enough, it was.  What a brilliant but odd looking bird he was.  He had a plum in his beak, which was almost the same size as his body and he  was bouncing away on the tree branch.  It is so amazing how perfectly God colors in the lines with his birds.  Red, green, yellow and black, all of them inside the lines to make a perfectly colored toucan.

The hurricane has begun its trip up the Hummingbird Highway and I am snug in my house thinking about a morning full of the little treasures that make life so full of joy.  Esnider and his smiley face in spite of living circumstances that would dampen any spirit and a toucan in the tree to remind me of God’s perfect attention to detail.  Thank you, God, for the reminders!

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