"That was a great picnic lunch, Grandma!" Big C rubbed his full tummy.
Little c smiled with satisfaction and rubbed his tummy, too. "I wike stwawbewies."
We approached the big double wooden doors of the little country church that stands only a couple of miles from the lake where I grew up.
"It's a Swedish church," I explained as I pushed the doors open with the help of two eager boys.
"Is my church Swedish, Grandma?" asked Big C.
"Swe dis?" Little c looked puzzled.
"Well, it just means that people who came to this country way across the ocean from the land of Sweden started this church to worship God together. When I was a child, services weren't held here anymore except for once every summer and then the Swedish language was still spoken for the service."
"Did you go then, Grandma?" asked Big C.
"No, since we couldn't understand the language. My family came from Norway. But we like to come here every now and then just because it is a special place and honors God."
The boys walked around slowly and respectfully, inspecting the antique, wooden pews and the simple pastor's podium.
Suddenly, Little c ran to the old organ with a beaming smile on his face.
"A piano!" he shouted. "Me pway it, Gamma?"
"Of course," I smiled. "Just be very careful with it."
He nodded and climbed up on the bench, patting the seat next to him. I sat down on one side and Big C squished in on the other side of his little brother. Little c pressed some notes but no sound came out. He looked up at me, frustrated.
"This is an organ, not a piano," I explained. "And it won't make a sound unless the pedals are pushed.
The boys looked down to the pedals.
"Feet don't go," Little c was trying hard to stretch his chubby legs to the floor.
Big C quickly knelt down on the floor and began to push the two large pedals alternately with vigor.
"Now try it, Little c," he spoke with encouragement.
When Little c pressed the next note, a tuneful sound was heard and his mouth opened wide in amazement.
"Tank oo," he told his kind and helpful brother.
"As Little c continued to play, the notes began to turn into real praise songs that we recognized, and when Big C took a break from pedal-pushing, the organ continued to play!
"I didn't know Little c could play real songs," Big C said with awe.
"Well, remember Boys, we are in the Land of Abundant Living!" I said. "Strange and wonderful things can happen here!"
We started to sing the words which all came easily to our minds, even to Little c's.
We went from song to song, without a pause:
"Shine, Jesus, shine; fill this land with the Fa-ther's glory!" Big C's face shown with delight.
"How majestic is Your Name in all the earth!" I sang with power.
"Grandma, I've never heard you sing so good!" exclaimed Big C.
"Remember, this is the Land of Abundant Life," I reminded him again.
Little c blasted out the words of praise, "He is ex-awe-ted! The King is ex-awe-ted on hi! I pwai-ai-sse Him!"
Together we finished with "I could sing of Your love forever!" Then, a refreshed quiet settled on our little group.
"Grandma," Big C looked up at me. "This is just like real church! We sing those songs in our church!"
"Yes, Big C. This is what church is. Today we studied our Bible together while we had our picnic lunch and now we are worshipping God together.
"Having church is God's people getting together to learn about God and worship Him."
"Pway." Little c contributed.
"Yes, that is very important, too, Little c." We bowed our heads and each talked to God.
Opening his eyes, Big C spotted something in the corner that had gone unnoticed until now.
"It's a treasure chest!" he exclaimed. Both boys ran to see what was in it. I couldn't recall ever having seen it here before. "But," I reminded myself with a smile, "this is, of course, the Land of Abundant Life. Strange and wonderful things can happen here."
Please join us next week as we find out what is in the Treasure Chest!
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