One of the many nice things about being a teacher is the breaks scheduled throughout the school year.  Recently the school where my wife and I teach had its annual  February vacation, and it was a great time to schedule some shows.  I wrote earlier about the shows early in the week, but, after a few days off, I squeezed in a few more.  On Thursday, I did a show at a new venue: St. Mary's Pavillion.  This is the geriatric portion of St. Mary's Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine.  

St. Mary's was a beautiful facility in the heart of Maine's second largest city.  I wrapped up the show with a couple of illusions that talk about King Solomon at the end of his life, when he decrees, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is the whole duty on man."  The key, from the book of Ecclesiastes, is that Solomon had wasted most of his life on honoring HIMSELF, not God.  But, as long as he had breath, he was able (and did) repent, turn to the Creator, and surrender to him.

The final show of the vacation week was for a very different crowd.  It was at a winter retreat for the New England Royal Rangers.  This is a boys' ministry of the Assemblies of God.  Over 100 boys, grades four through high school, spent three days at a camp in the wilderness of Maine. On the final night, I'm told, the older boys had the opportunity to sleep outside.   In February.  In Maine.  While my wife and I were setting up the show, we overheard some of the training the leaders were sharing with the boys, and it seems like they were well prepared.  (The truth is, I know a couple of the boys that were there from school, and they all made it through the night safely and successfully.)

My show was the Saturday night service, and the boys were enthusiastic, to say the least.  From my three ball juggling routine to my lotta bowl routine presenting the story of Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al, there energy got us off to a strong start.  The energy never died down, though, even through an hour long program.  I ended with a routine I don't do very often.  It is a combination of the Miser's Dream and D'Lights, as I tell / act out an account of Jesus healing a blind man.  This leads into a nice lesson on how God wants to be glorified through our struggles, handicaps and weaknesses.  I was even able to mention our oldest daughter, Jo, who has dyslexia, but just graduated form grad school two months ago!  The boys were very attentive through this part of the program, proving they were more that just a rowdy crowd, but instead, they could take the Word of God seriously as well.