0210 the truth behind lasagna and 666

Sam came by and picked me up for the second service at SBCC. We sat with Eric, Jennifer, Wendi and Chris.

Pastor Gary continued his series of “National Treasure: God’s Book of Secrets” by talking about the antichrist and the mystery of ‘666’. He spoke about references in Revelation 13. In Verse 18, it reads “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

He talked about how people have studied the number ‘666’ in great detail, and how it’s been found in many places and associated with many people. President Reagan was once thought to be the antichrist because of the number of letters in his first, middle and last names (Ronald Wilson Reagan).

Pastor Gary also spoke about numerical values. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew and the New Testament is written in Greek. Both alphabets have numerical values associated with each character. ‘Jesus’ spelled in Greek has a numerical value of 888.

He discussed the numerical values of the names of SBCC’s pastoral staff. Pastor Ken’s name totals about 127. Pastor James’ comes in at 177. Pastor Nathan’s is a whopping 1014. But Pastor Gary’s own name comes in at 641, which is too close for his own comfort. Sam wondered aloud about Pastor Gary’s middle name. So loud that Pastor Gary responded directly with a “never mind Sam!”

After the service, Sam and I loaded up in Sam’s car and headed over to Sheri’s place for our Koinonia luncheon. Everyone but Liz was able to make it. Liz was in Mexico, attending the wedding of a friend and would not make it back in time.

When we got to Sheri’s place, I had to stand in order to make it past the front step. Sam helped to support me as I side-stepped through the front door to my waiting wheelchair.

Sheri had prepared salad and lasagna, and after saying grace we dug in. Stephanie brought some oranges and Asian pears to share, and Wendi had picked up some cream puff and éclairs from Beard Papa. Eric and Jen brought cakes for the two birthday girls (today is Sheri’s and this Friday is Wendi’s).

Liz had forwarded a “Birthday Queen” tiara that we made Sheri wear during the whole afternoon. We played a game where we would tell three things about ourselves, but one of them had to be a lie. It was up to the others to guess which was the lie. My three things? Okay, try your best to guess the lie.

(1) I went to my high school prom with the captain of the football team.
(2) I once worked backstage at a Van Halen concert.
(3) I once participated in a clinical study where it was determined that having an erection lasting more than four hours was a bad thing.

Do you know which one is the lie? Email me with your guess. Or just post a comment to this blog.

We spent most of the time responding to questions from Sheri, like “Where were you born?” and “When did you first accept Christ as your savior?” and “What is your favorite hobby?” My favorite hobby? Well. that depends. Before or after the stroke?

My favorite hobby after the stroke is sleeping. They were not thrilled about my response, so they asked about before the stroke. Well, I used to like to cook. Specifically, baking. I used to make a great three-layer cheesecake and I liked to bake cookies. One of these days, I’ll be back to that hobby.

I’d like to share everyone else’s responses, but it’s not my info to share. Our group is close-knit and we really have a good time together, although we do have to remind Sam to turn it down a notch or three. If you know Sam, then you know what I’m talking about.

We broke up around 4pm. Sheri’s father was taking her out for a birthday dinner. Sam had a great plan for getting me to the car but ended up almost launching me onto the driveway. Four sets off hands caught me and helped me back into my wheelchair. Following Wendi’s supervision, they were able to get me to the car without further incident, although my seat cushion was wedged somewhere it should not have been.

Sam got me home by 5pm, where I looked forward to dinner and my favorite hobby.

A YEAR AGO TODAY: My sister and niece visited with me in the morning. I had Speech and PT in the morning, then was visited in the afternoon by friends from church – Mike & Carol, Steve T, Judy, Lillian Y, John M, and Kiyomi. It was a nice day.