• Sathyam Orphanage
My first stop on my India-Kid Mission this August was a Children’s Orphanage in Bombay (Mumbai). It was called Sathya Nikethan. Here is the Head Master of the children’s home. I had never been to an Orphanage before, so I was apprehensive about how I would do there and how I would be received. There are 47 children in the Orphanage and another 25 from the community that attend day school there.
I came to do a chapel for them…
• Riddle #5, What Am I?
Riddle Me This! What Am I?
I am a high flyer,
But I get knocked around.
I leave and return on demand,
Many close calls, you understand.
You might say, I am yellow,
And I am…a well rounded fellow.
When new, I am fuzzy,
But when old, they say…”fuzzy, was he?”
All ages play with me,
And I can be seen on national T.V.
I am a ____________________________
Written by Barney Kinard
Submit your answer in the comment box.
Winners will be notified in the comment box.
• My Floral Bouquet #6
These floral beauties are daisies, that I captured in Estonia. Daisies are quite common flowers, found in so many places. Daisies are, to me, rather simple flowers, rather symmetrical with only two colors with the clean white pedals. They have a clean crisp look in contrast to the green foliage. These flowers impressed me as healthy and good looking.
At first glance, there is nothing unique to identify them, individually, like many flowers, they all look the same.
• Thanksgiving Turkey Lesson
This Thanksgiving Turkey is a lesson on thankfulness. This has been the Kinard tradition for Thanksgiving. This flannel-graph board has a turkey mounted on it, without the feathers. Our guests pick a subject/feather that they are thankful for. Then each person shares with the family/group the specific thing in that category that they are thankful for and why.
• Rare Elk Sighting
This Funny-Fun Foto was taken at my brother Spencer’s home in Gresham, Oregon. Elk are rare in that city, but occasionally one can be found near homes when hunger drives them out of the forest (it worked for me). This photo captures the essence of Elk, with many years represented in this fine “rack.” You will notice the irregular antler shapes. This is the damage from the bulls, who annually go “RACKeteering.”
Can you imagine this rare specimen stuffed and mounted above the mantle in your living room? Not!
• The Unspeakable Gift
More than thirty years ago, a dentist, from the Midwest, was taking me to the airport. He observed my five missing teeth. He told me that my smile “offended him!” Then, he offered to repair my teeth, if would fly there to get them repaired. He told me that he would do all the work “for free,” on one condition, that I would never give out his name. I agreed!
So I made four flights from California to Oklahoma. I spent a full day in the dentist’s chair, each trip. When he was finally done…
• The Fruit of Gratefulness
Saturday, while taking a walking break from my writing in Palm Springs, I found myself checking out the fruit to determine its readiness for picking. The grapefruit turns from green to yellow, then brighter yellow to a reddish blush. When this reddish blush appears, that’s how you can tell this type of grapefruit is ripe. You see, it takes months for the grapefruit trees to be ready for harvest. The nice Spring flower buds are but the beginning of months of growth. Finally, by late November, some are ready, by December and January the trees are heavily laden with ripened fruit, some even dropping to the ground.
All this is particularly true, if these hardy trees can withstand the dry heat of the incredible summer weather here, the forceful winds with sand, and the plummeting temperatures of the desert nights. It’s a wonder that any fruit remain on the trees until now. There are numerous grapefruit trees in the Condo grounds. There are more than enough fruit for all the residents that would like them. Most guests pick them and give them away. They spoil, when they lay around on the grounds, so the management and gardeners are happy when they are all picked, which makes room for another season.
I have been contemplating the idea that Gratefulness is like fruit, a grapefruit. Let me try to explain…
• The Missing Puzzle Piece?
Many of us have had the experience of working on a large puzzle for hours only to find towards the end that one piece is missing to complete the puzzle. The picture is incomplete without that one piece. But where is it? You might look everywhere, only to conclude that it can’t be found.
Well, I found the missing piece…
• What is a Plodder?
When my wife, Sharon, decided the honor me for my 6oth birthday (almost five years ago), she invited sixty of my friends and many family members to dinner party at Buca di Beppo to celebrate. Part of the program was to invite those in attendance to share from their knowledge of me from each decade of my life. Someone from every decade was present and willing to share. The reason that I am mentioning all this is because….
• Honored for Excellence
I was honored with a national award called the Excellence in Children’s Ministry Award. I received this prestigious award at the annual Children’s Pastors Conference in Denver, Colorado. The CPC is the premeire conference ministry of International Network of Children’s Ministries. Now they host two or three of these national conferences a year. Here Dean Stone, a member of the Board for INCM, presented me with one of the highest awards available in Children’s Ministry. I never thought I would ever receive one of these coveted plaques.
This was such an honor for me…
