Thanks a lot

How is it possible that we are three days from celebrating Thanksgiving 2012?  While I love this time of year, I am a little ill prepared for it to already be here.  Oh well, can't do anything now but get with the spirit of the season.  So thanks!  Thanks a lot!   That would be thanks to an abundance of people who have touched, challenged, blessed, enriched, and walked with us in this life. 

So many people have invested in our lives and allowed us to invest in them.  Thanks a lot!  We have so many friends.  We have great family.  We have been blessed to be part of incredible churches.  Thanks a lot!  As a Pastor, many have trusted us to walk with them in difficult seasons.  We have been there when many have been married, buried, and baptized.  Thanks a lot! 

Our parents have sacrificed for us to have what we needed to move forward and serve God.  They provided a system of love that taught us you can always go home.  Thanks a lot!  Our kids are reminders of God's provision and grace.  They were all gifts to us.  They may at times be challenging, but life is more full with our challenges.  Thanks a lot! 

God has redeemed us.  He has turned our worst days into opportunities to connect with others and live grace.  God has trusted us with His word and His people.  He has shown us time and again that His Holy Spirit is alive and speaking to us daily.  God continues to overcome our mess and offer His love to us and the world.  Thanks a lot!  It isn't much in the grand scheme of things.  Thanks seems so small.  Thanks seems so inadequate.  So, Thanks a lot!

crazy, fast paced living!

Like most days, weeks and months of my life, things have been moving at a pretty rapid pace.  There have been so many conversations with people, lessons spoken, lessons learned, walking with couples who are struggling to find grace in their marriages, walking with couples who are living grace with each other, people hurting, people recovering, .... and on and on the lists could go.  I am sitting down for a few minutes before I put the boys to bed.   I had this desire to write.  I guess the desire came from a prayer request I received from a global prayer network.  By the way, this writing comes with tears. 

A little tiny newborn is not well, he had to be intubated as he has stopped breathing.  I prayed!  I was overwhelmed with the thought of the parents of little Elijah.  His mother sent out the prayer request through a friend.  I can hear her desperation. I have been with families in these illnesses and in times of overwhelming grief.  I hurt for them.  Perspective.  Perspective of what it means for a world to fall apart and things as they are known and expected and hoped for to not be that way anymore.  I have been with far too many when grief overwhelms, pain cuts the heart, mind and body into pieces, and hope is lost. 

That kind of ache surpasses who lives in a nice white house with an iron gate in far northeast.  Of all the things to rant and rave about and feel overwhelmed over, well, let's just say baby Elijah and others like him should be way up on the list.  I know, difficult days will be faced one way or the other by all.  But feel the desperate plea of a mother for a minute so you can stop complaining and start praying.  "Elijah is not doing well at all.  Stopped breathing. They just intubated him. Prayers Please!

Feel the hurt and ache around you.  Gain perspective.  Live! Love! Feel! Pray! Praise! Stop and Rest and Realize the need around you for people with genuine faith to reach across to those whose faith is in the crucible of fire and pain.  Pray for Elijah and his parents!  It could be a long night or a lonely night........

I'm honored and excited to be speaking for the Bridgeway Church Men's Retreat!  Great setting at Camp Alta with great men seeking God... I am hopeful God speaks through me and even more instead of me...

Casey Frye leading worship and the canopy of the ages above us!

I am blessed!