This last Friday, Graceanne and I attended our first Daddy-Daughter dance at her school. I was not really sure what to expect since I am not a dancer don’t know the first thing about dancing. Graceanne wanted to wear her favorite red dress and she was beautiful as ever. I bought a beautiful 3 rose corsage for her to wear. We took a few pictures before we left and off we went to the dance. I could tell she was a little nervous and I tried to not show my nervousness. When we arrived the parking lot was full, dispelling my initial fear that there would be only a few of us there and the entire world would be watching ME ruin the art of dance. We got out and walked up to the school and there were the Dad’s with their beautifully dressed little girls in the lobby. We signed in and were directed to stand in line for pictures. It was interesting watching the Dad’s and how some were kind of uncomfortable and how others were trying to smile without looking goofy.
The Dance started and the first thing Graceanne wanted to do was eat. She was Starving (as she put it) and nothing was going to happen until she got to eat. So we stood in the food line. Graceanne began grabbing at the pretzels, popcorn and chips and anything else she could eat right away. Of course everything on the Food table was just like that. Little mini pig in the blankets, Nacho Chips, Potato Chips, Chicken Nuggets and then the Veggie and Fruit trays, followed by Brownies, Cookies and puff pastries. I grabbed a handful of Nacho Chips and got a few spoonful’s of Salsa, and then I saw this bowl with a yellow substance ( maybe I should inform the readers that the lighting was very dim ) and I thought to myself, OOOh Nachos !!!! So I grabbed the spoon and heap a few big spoonful’s of Nacho Cheese onto my chips and hurried through the line so I could sit down and enjoy them. I sat down and took my first few bites of a few chips and thought hmm, this cheese is pretty interesting. It did not taste like any Nacho Cheese I had ever had before, but I was enjoying it and so I continued scarf them down. Then out of nowhere it hit me!!! This is not Nacho Cheese, its MUSTARD!!! After I realized what I was eating, I laughed at myself and finished off the rest of the food. The DJ then announced it was time for the first slow dance for Daughters and Dads, so Graceanne and I moved to the dance floor with all the others and had our very first dance. It was a great experience for both Graceanne and me. She had so much fun with her friends and just seeing her smile and dance and be with her friends was well worth the time of being there.
Sometimes God ask us to do things that we never think we would want to or are even capable of doing. Just like the Mustard on my Chips. I never would have put Mustard on my Chips on purpose. But after mistakenly putting them together, I realized it was a pretty good combo and enjoyed them. Throughout History there have been “mistakes” that worked out to be useful as in the two examples below:
During World War II, in 1943, an engineer in the United States Navy(Richard James) was on a ship’s trial run. As he worked, a spring fell on the floor. It flipped-flopped and bounced around on the floor as he watched. When he got home, Richard remembered how the coiled spring flipped-flopped in an interesting way. Richard and his wife Betty took a long steel ribbon and tightly coiled it into a spiral. They started production in 1945. From that spring’s accidental fall came a toy that kids have enjoyed for over 50 years, called the Slinky.
The Slinky isn’t electrical, no batteries are required, yet it has amazed generations of children and adults. More than 2 million Slinkies have been sold since it was invented. The only change to the Slinky since it was invented has been to crimp the ends for safety. Richard’s wife, Betty James is now the company President and the Slinky is still hopping, skipping, and bouncing across floors all over America.
There is a lot of sand on the Earth; in fact there are millions of tons of it. In the sand chemists can pull out a chemical element called silicon. During World War II, The United States government needed rubber for airplane and truck tires, boots for soldiers, and many other uses. Rubber was difficult to get during the war because rubber came from trees that grew in Africa. Since silicon was so available, the government asked many different large companies to have their engineers try to make a rubber substitute out of silicon.
At General Electric, in 1944, one of the engineers working with the silicon experiments was James Wright. One day he was running a test on silicon oil where he added boric acid to the oil. At the end of the test the result was a gooey blob that bounced. Unfortunately, this blob had no real use. Samples of it were sent to engineers all over the world, but no one could find any use for it, so it was forgotten about.
Four years after the war ended, in 1949, a man by the name of Peter Hodgson thought of a use. The goo could stretch and bounce and if you pressed it against the newspaper comics, it picked up the pictures and letters. Peter decided the goo made a great toy, so he borrowed $147 to start his business, placed the goo into plastic eggs and called it "Silly Putty." At first he started selling it to adults, then after several years to children. It was one of the first "fad" toys, like the hula-hoop, Beanie Babies, and Pokemon, but after 40 years it is still amazing. It’s a toy with only one moving part and it still costs so little that almost anyone can afford it.
Silly Putty even has some uses other than as a toy. The astronauts on Apollo 8 played with it when they got bored and used it to keep tools from floating around the capsule when in space. The Columbus Zoo used it to take hand and footprints of its gorillas in 1981. Silly Putty is even used by people doing exercises to strengthen their hand, wrist, and forearm muscles. It can even remove the lint from your clothes and the dog hair off the furniture.
Be willing to try something that does not make sense. Be a Risk Taker and allow God to do something wonderful in and through you. Peter took a Risk when he walked on Water. (Matthew 14:22-34)
A phrase comes to mind that we are all familiar with:
NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED - “You can't get anywhere unless you're willing to take a risk. The saying dates back to Chaucer (c. 1374) and is similar to the late fourteenth century French proverb: Qui onques rien n'enprist riens n'achieva (He who never undertook anything never achieved anything) the proverb was included in John Heyword's collection of proverbs in 1546. First cited in the United States in 'Letters and Papers of Cadwallader Colden. It takes varying forms: Nothing ventured, nothing lost, nothing ventured, nothing won, etc. ." From the "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).
You never know, you may be one that future generations read about.
Can I get a Witness?
Keith
