French Relatives

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps and did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
                                                                                                                       Matthew 25:1-4

We have been making preparations for the coming of some of our French cousins the end of August. A menu is being planned in hopes that we will have sufficient food on hand for their visit.  They will be here for a week along with our children. A reunion is also being planned at our home for Sunday, August 25th so lots of planning has to take place. The French are known for their excellent  cuisine and are known to spend a big portion of their time cooking and eating which is a focal point of their culture. When we have visited France, it is nothing to spend two to three hours at the table in eating and conversation.  Maybe I need to back up at this point and remind everyone that Paul's father was French, and he has more relatives in France than he has in the United States.

 French relatives-Lady on right will be visiting us with her husband. 

Our daughter Christiane is named after her.

Because we want their time here to be memorable, we are doing an extra amount of planning and preparation so everything will go smoothly. For the reunion, we have relatives coming from New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, California, and Minnesota. /Not only are we having to prepare food, but we are also organizing day trips to acquaint them with the area that Paul's father and uncle experienced when they first came to the States.

All of this activity reminded us of the story of the ten virgins in the Bible. Five of the virgins were well prepared and five were called foolish  as they did not have any oil for their lamps. Whereas, the wise virgins made preparation for a jar of oil along with their lamps. Not only are we to keep our house in order in all ways, but it is also important that we are prepared spiritually. We don't know when Christ will return or we may be called home.We need to make sure that our complete trust and faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have a daily walk with Him. So, the old Boy Scout adage is true, "Always be prepared."

Blessings and Encouragement,

Paul, Gail, Patsy, and Penny