Surprise! It's Your Party!

I got a call from my wife yesterday morning inviting me to her school. She told me that Lisa was ordering pizza and that she wanted to talk to me about something. I'm never one to refuse pizza, and I've known Lisa forever, so of course I would come. But, deep down, I really wondered what she needed. I arrived a little before noon and Marci took me to the cafeteria along with a super-humungo pizza that just arrived from Giovanni's. Before I sat down with Marci at the teacher's table I had a little project to do. Being the techno nerd that I am, I brought the dosimeter with me to measure the noise level of the HVAC blower in the lunch room because it is sooooo loud (but that's another story).

So there I was, in the lunch room, surrounded on all sides by precious kids that were either eating their lunch, or just being the rambunctious creations that God made them. For a moment, I was actually transported right back to grade school.

In a few minutes, Lisa joined us, along with Prudy, Cindy, and Kelly. We sat and ate pizza and talked. I even got to eat some of the spaghetti from the cafeteria and have to say that my wife's cafeteria staff can really cook! As I stuffed myself, all of the teachers wanted to know more about my book, how long it took to write, how I went about being published, etc... As you can imagine, I loved talking to them about it because it is a way that I can let God shine through in my life. We talked for a while and then it was time for cake. Cake???? I asked Marci, "What's the cake for?". She wouldn't answer me, so I knew something was up.

Cindy was holding a large sheet cake and announced to the entire 4th and 5th grades, "Attention everyone! I want to tell all of you that we have an author that has recently published a book and he is here with us today. It's Mrs. Prater's husband Donny, and his book is available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and all over the world. It's called A Warrior Culture and we wanted to recognize him for his achievement and all of you are going to get cake!" As you can imagine, the place erupted in screams and clapping (for the cake of course, not me) and it registered 114 dB on the dosimeter (the equivalent of a loud rock music concert).

After everyone had quieted down, Cindy asked me to speak to the kids. I had no clue what to say so I started off by thanking everyone, then I told them how much fun it is to write, and ended with a big "You Can Too" pep talk. I spent a few minutes answering questions from the kids and then we ate cake together.

What a fun way to spend lunch! My wife really surprised me on this one and it made my week. But, the great thing was that one of the kids asked me what the book was about. It started to tell him that it is a book designed for Men's Ministries that need direction. I soon realized that my answer to him was a bit much for him to understand so I just told him that it is a book about Jesus.

I hope I planted a seed yesterday that will one day grow into a tree. A really smart guy once said, "Wise people plant trees under whose branches they may never sit". That is what all teachers do every day in the classroom. It's also what all Christians should be about: Planting seeds everywhere we go by letting our light shine. That's my prayer today.