Coincidence? Only God knows!

South Dakota Building Too Tough for Demolition
Saturday, December 03, 2005

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Thousands of spectators gathered Saturday to watch the demolition of the city's tallest building — but the Zip Feed Mill tower was no pushover. The 202-foot-tall concrete structure dropped slightly, leaned a little — and stopped. Onlookers at viewing spots all over downtown groaned and gasped — with a few jokes mixed in. "The leaning tower of Zip," one woman said. "The building won!" yelled another man, to the cheers of onlookers.

I was visiting Sioux Falls on Labor Day weekend as a vendor at the 2005 LifeLight Festival. It had been an intense 4-day event with great Christian music, amazing testimonies and great conversations with the many people stopping by my booth. After perusing my graffiti photos, a few locals told me about some building "art" in downtown Sioux Falls. In a quick drive-through on my way home, I couldn't find the graffiti but I did capture this shot with its poignant message. And maybe it was this side of the building, though not newsworthy, that caused the onlookers to cheer the building on.

What is it about puppets?

What compels a grown woman to put a furry creature on her arm, stand behind a black curtain, manipulate the rods attached to little furry arms to the beat of the music and "sing" a song to an audience? There are days when I wish I could answer that question especially for those who look at me with that look - you know the LOOK. The one that wordlessly says, "you have lost your mind" as they quickly change the subject or quietly back away to prevent any further conversation.

Every show brings a memory of something noteworthy. Usually it is someone in the unseen audience that the puppeteer can hear that causes an arm to be a little straighter and a performance to be just a little better. Like the time we performed at the Ronald McDonald House in Houston, Texas for patients undergoing cancer treatment at M. D. Anderson. There sat a dad next to his little baldheaded daughter singing at the top of his voice along with the puppets to "I Believe". Then I am grateful for the curtain between us so he can't see the tears pouring down my face as I hear his desperate plea to God. Or the mother who thanked us because she hadn't been able to get to church in a strange town and just needed to hear worship music. Or the little girl who wanted a copy of the music.

But puppets are not just for children. They are, however, for the child at heart. Our most enthusiastic adult crowds have been at the Richmond State School, Brookwood and The Center. Singing along to the music, dancing even when wheelchair bound, clapping and hooting to the moves of the puppets, our audiences of those physically and mentally challenged remind us life is an "all out" affair and how much more so for those of us without physical or mental limitations.

Puppets can teach, inspire and for a brief moment, touch the child in all of us - the child of wonder, the child of innocence, the child of unconditional love - that is what it is about.