               "TO MY KIDS"

     This is a combination of computer files that I wrote
on my Tandy 600 to my Sunday School class (some time ago).
I wanted each of them to have the experience of
highlighting the file with their name on it, and finding a
"computer message" on the LCD screen "just for them."
     Keep in mind that you're "reading somebody else's
mail".

          "TALK"
Q: CLYDE, CAN YOU TALK, OR ARE YOU JUST FAKING IT?

A:   I wish I were faking.  Yes, I can talk a little bit,
but it hurts, and I think talking slows down the healing of
my throat, so I'm trying to keep my mouth shut.

     I THOUGHT that I had become a fairly quiet guy, but
now that it hurts to talk, I realize that I had really been
a chatterbox.

     There are lots of comments I want to make, and can't.
There are questions asked of me that I leave unanswered,
and I feel rude.  There are things that I need to ask for
in noisy places, and sometimes I can't make myself heard.

     I REALLY MISS SINGING.  My little recorder/flute is no
substitute.
     I REALLY MISS being able to teach my young friends in
Sunday School and Pioneer Club.  I pray that I'll get over
this, and be able to  get back to class soon.

     PRAY FOR ME.  Your prayers are part of what God is
using to heal my whole body.  Thank you.

          "SEAN"
Sean,
     I'm really not trying to avoid you, or hurt your
feelings by not talking to you.  It's just hard for me to
talk right now.
     Wednesday night you talked about how battered your
Bible was getting on the outside, but it was still nice and
clean on the inside.  I really think that God likes to see
Bibles that are read a lot, and marked in, and have notes
in them, and might be smudged or a little grubby because
the owner has been READING it and THINKING about what it
says and trying to DO what God wants.  Some people have
grubby Bibles because they're careless.  Some folks have
grubby Bibles to impress other folks.  Some folks have the
Word in their hearts.
     I'm praying for God to write His Word on your heart,
Sean.  God bless you.

          "JENNY"
Jennifer,
     I hope you had a good time at camp last week.  I was
at church Wednesday night, but since I couldn't talk much,
Jim McMullan took the Pioneer Club.  We had several
visitors, as well as our "home folks", and we had more
people than we expected.
     Jenny, I am absolutely delighted that you are
confident and comfortable with yourself.  I haven't seen
anything in you that looked like bad feelings about
yourself or unhealthy fears, and I haven't seen (much)
cockiness, either.  You know that God has blessed you, and
you have a lot to give.
     I've been praying ahead of time for you, that when
somebody does mistreat you or hurt you, when you find the
end of your own strength or smarts, that you'll be able to
trust in the Lord without panicking or feeling wiped out or
quitting.  If you think it might help, remember that you
have a friend who loves you and thinks you're a sharp kid.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on
your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths."

          "NANETTE"
Nanette,
     I hope you had a good time at camp last week.  I
really missed you and Jenny Wednesday night.
     I know that you spend a lot of time with kids who are
bigger and older than you are, and sometimes you get
frustrated because you don't do some things as well as the
other kids.  For the rest of your life, there will usually
be somebody nearby who is stronger or better coordinated or
(you will think) better looking than you are.  Get used to
it.
     Nanette, I am praying for you that God will make you
able to ENJOY being NANETTE, and to ENJOY completing the
"mission" that He has given you to do.  "For we are His
workmanship (His "poem"), created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk
in them."
     God has a mission for you, and He has prepared you and
is preparing you to be His special Un-secret Agent.  Your
birth was supposed to be impossible, but was a miraculous
answer to prayer.  Never lose sight of God's special
purpose for your life.  I love you, my little sister.  God
bless you.

          "JACKIE"
Jackie,
     I'm really glad your mother came Wednesday night.  I
tried to talk with her, and my voice gave out, but she was
very patient with me.  We are hoping not only that you will
be able to come more often, but that your mother would want
to start coming too.
     I'm very glad that you are reading your Bible on your
own.  In Sunday School, we have started reading the Gospel
of Mark.  There's not a lot of preaching in Mark.  It's
mostly action.  Maybe you could get your mother to help you
read it for yourself some at home.
     I think that you are a very good listener.  You're
very quiet and well behaved, but sometimes I wish you would
talk more.  I hope you will feel when you are at Word of
Life, that you're among friends you can talk to.  I just
hope that when you want to talk, we will be ready to
listen.  I pray that God will make us worthy of your trust.
God bless you.

[THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT BEFORE I WROTE THESE WAS THE LAST TIME
I SAW JACKIE OR HER MOTHER.]
                                             Clyde Price

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