Bugs in the Baptismal: Stories of Faith and Folly

By Ann Miner

In this book Bugs in the Baptismal, a companion book to I Lift My Eyes: Inspirational Short Stories to Soothe the Soul, the author intertwines observations on how Gods hand is in our lives, minute by minute, with short personal accounts of her life with family and friends-and Gods creatures who live outdoors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504914178

Ann Miner

Ann Miner is a freelance writer and author of adult inspirational and children’s books, including Polly Possum’s Wandering Path and Buddy Finds A Home. Polly is about a little girl possum who wanders away from her mom and gets lost. Can she find her way home? Buddy is a true story about a cat that lived under the shed. Do the neighborhood cats accept him? When Miner is not writing books, she researches information she for her column, Parkinson's Postings, in the local newspaper. She has been a member of and served on the boards for the High Desert branch of the California Writers Club (www.hdcwc.com); the Southern California Conference on Prayer and Healing; and Supporting Women In Ministry International (www.swiminternational.org). She is a member of the San Diego Christian Writers Guild. Watch for A Cow Is a Cow, True Stories about Adoptions, and the children’s book, Danny Duck, coming in 2016. Ann lives in Southern California.

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© 2015 Ann Miner. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/27/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1416-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1417-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015908256

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Prayer of Confession

What’s in A Name?

Two Baptisms

Antics in the Attic

On Forgiveness and Other Miracles

Meeses Scare Me to Pieces

Piano

Joe

Jackie

An Evening with P.D.Q. Bach

Coffee or Tea?

Learning to Listen

Corporate Tithing

Broken

I’m A Little Teapot

Precious Lord, Take My Hand

A Special Student

Farewell, Mein Schatz

Once In My Lifetime

This Spring Morning

Shoes, Shirts, No Service

I Am Old and I Am Blessed

Church Is the Thing

A Squirrel’s Harvest

Top Shelf Treasures

The Perfect Pictures

A Newborn’s Blanket

The Ceramic Bible

The Handkerchief

Unless You Are Worthy

Love Came Down

But, Mom!

Angry at God

More Angels?

Rocked and Restored

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Website

I dedicate this book to Michael, Ana, Katherine, Jay, Jennifer and

my grandchildren. Family means everything to me. I thank God for you.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

I thank the Lord, who gave me these stories, and the ability to write them.

I also give thanks for all who have continued to ask me when this book would be published, particularly you, Eloise Gibson. You kept reminding me that I had promised to produce.

Thank you, Kat Miner, for lovingly editing and making suggestions as I approached the finish line.

In addition, I know that I would never have kept going without the prayers and encouragement from my dear Tuesday morning Bible study gals, led by Barbara Katnic, and from numerous other friends and family. Thank you for loving me. I praise God for enriching my life with you.

We get to choose how we spend that space

Between now and meeting our Creator.

INTRODUCTION

Christmas Eve was a very big event in our church. We held three evening services, and filled the pews. One service was always overflowing, because, for years, Dale Evans was there to either sing and play the piano, or give a talk, or both.

We likely violated fire regulations with extra chairs in the aisles, and even right up to the edge of the chancel. (The fire station was just a few yards away and we had confidence that we would be safe).

Because of the crowded conditions, the piano was on the chancel. Because the piano was on the chancel, the baptismal font was moved to the back corner. Because the baptismal font was moved to the corner, the basin had to be picked up and out, and carried forward for a baptism.

There were three youth baptisms that night. I was the elder who picked up the basin and carried it forward. When I picked up the basin, I noticed that there were two tiny gnats swimming in the water.

I had to stand just a little behind Pastor Bill Hansen, due to lack of space. He could not actually see the basin, but sort of felt for the water. When he gathered the water to put on the forehead of the first child, I saw that one of the gnats had disappeared. (I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and a gnat).

Next, the second child was up, and again, the second gnat disappeared. Oh dear. My crazy brain worried that the third child would not get a gnat, when just as Pastor Bill reached back for water, down from the ceiling dropped another gnat. Now, all baptisms were complete!

I went home with that scenario in my head, and thought what a good book title this would make. I immediately wrote down, Bugs in the Baptismal. That was more than 30 years ago, and I am finally getting around to presenting this story, and many others.

I pray you will laugh and cry and mostly, that you will enjoy how God works in us all day every single day.

In Christ’s love,

Ann

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Lord, we come to you this morning acknowledging our lack of faith that affects our relationship with You. We recognize that, as Your children, worry has no place in our lives, yet we continue to add tomorrow’s