Chris' Christian Blog

June 3, 2020

VBS Day 3: Sacrifice


Sacrifice is how we live in community with each other. It means giving up what we need to meet the needs of another person. It is the epitome of love and at the center of Christianity.



Prompt: "Did you know a raccoon always wears a mask, and compulsively washes his hands? What took us so long to get it right? Write about raccoons in your blog today. Maybe a funny story you've seen or an experience you've had with a raccoon."

The only experience I've ever really had with raccoons is hunting them and eating them. I didn't really care for the hunting. All you do is sit around drinking while you listen for the dogs to bark a certain way, signifying that they have a coon treed. Then you go and try to subdue the coon. On a "good night" you can knock the coon out of the tree and watch a good fight as the dogs fight with the coon until the coon is too exhausted to defend itself any further. Then you put the coon in a cage and decide what you are going to do with it or you kill it outright.

Many consider it "fun" to watch the coon and the dogs tear each other up. I always considered it inhumane. That is why I do not care for coon hunting.

I also am not a huge fan of coon meat. I have had it and found it to be greasy and not the best tasting. When you grow up in a poor family the size of mine you eat just about anything. Raccoon is something I hope I can pass on.

Prompt 7: "Green Thumb: Write about growing something."

I don't have a green thumb. I've tried and I usually end up killing some poor plant. I don't know if I over water or what the problem is. I did get lucky once though. I grew a small garden that I spaded up by hand. The soil where I planted it was so rich it was black. When soil is black like that it is a good indication that the soil is perfect. That is why the soil you buy in bags at stores is always black. The soil where I planted my garden looked like potting soil. It was pure black and had some old wood rotting through it. I dug up the space and planed beans, corn cucumbers, squash, and other produce. Then my parents decided to move before the crops came up and were harvested. One of my neighbors harvested the crops for himself. He told me later that he supplied corn and tomatoes to half the neighborhood and canned the rest. It had been a bumper crop.

Prompt 17: "Normal: What does normal mean to you? Is it good or bad to be normal?"

I don't think there is a "normal". I think there is a "normal" for each individual, but I don't think there is a normal regarding the human race. I think normal for humans is to look at everybody else as "abnormal". I mean we all carry emotional baggage. This woundedness may be as simple as workaholism or people-pleasing and it may be as abnormal as addiction to drugs, food, or sex. We all have some type of "dysfunction". The question is "What do we do about these" dysfunctions? Do we let them become the "norm" and ruin relationships or do we do something about them? 12-step programs are an excellent way to deal with whatever your "normal" is.

"Prompt: A picnic is more then just a meal. It is a pleasurable state of mind. What foods do you like to eat at a picnic?"

A better question may be to ask what foods I don't like to eat at a picnic? The list would be very short: none. I like almost all picnic foods. My favorite picnic food was always my mother's homemade noodles. She would use a fresh chicken and cook it from there. I don't know what her noodle recipe was. My brother and my sister know, but I am not in a place where I can cook anyway. The cooking here is done for me. Seeing as I will likely never leave here I don't need recipes. It has been a while since I have been to a picnic. If I go I hope they have homemade noodles like my mother's!

VBS Group: Day Three Wednesday: Sacrifice
Sacrifice is how we live in community with each other. It means giving up what we need to meet the needs of another person. It is the epitome of love and at the center of Christianity.