Life Imitates Art...or at least a commercial

OK, so most people reading this blog might know that my dad is going in for open-heart surgery early tomorrow morning (and by early, I mean before Starbuck's is even open, which is just not RIGHT in my book). Anyway, I'm off track. What I'm trying to say is that I am thankful for my family, especially my parents, who have dealt with this situation just like we've dealt with most others that have come along in our lives...with a lot of prayer, and a lot of humor!
The best example of this was when my dad was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago for chest pains. After many tests and many threats by Dad to escape, they found that a section of his aorta will need to be replaced. While still processing all of this, Mom made phone calls to the rest of the family. She got a hold of Travis (older brother) who was on his cell, driving back from Tallahassee, and explained to him that Dad needed surgery and it would be very extensive. Here is where the cameras should have been rolling, because Travis let Mom go on for a few minutes and then said, "Wait a minute. Don't you have insurance??" Mom: "Yes, of course. Anyway....." (she continued to explain the surgery here). Travis heard nothing she said from this point on, because HE thought she had said the surgery was "expensive." And he was amazed! Was her next stop ebay, to bid on a discounted procedure? Was she going to scour the paper for a coupon?? We all got a good laugh at it, and since we'll need a few more laughs over the next days/weeks to come, I came up with a short list of good reasons to have heart surgery. Here you go, Dad!
1. The gowns you wear are just so dang cute....and the ventilation is unsurpassed.
2. If you're a guy, it's one of the few times you get flowers delivered to you and you don't have to feel weird about it!
3. You get a hair-free chest, which gets you one step closer to the Men's Health magazine cover.
4. It's the one time you're allowed to take really, really great drugs. Life will never look better to you than when you're this medicated!
5. You get to sleep a lot...oh, I forgot. They do come in and wake you up every 2.7 minutes to see if you're resting.
6. You hear from people that haven't called you in years.
7. The food is so....um, scratch this one.
8. Pretty pink bedpan included at no extra charge.
9. If you've ever thought of yourself as a "modest" person and wanted to be a little more daring, let's just compare this experience to going from the Amish community to a nudist colony in one fell swoop! (no offense to the Amish)
10. And, finally, you get to find out how much people really love and care about you. We do love you, Dad!

Making the MOST of it...

Straight from the Words of Life:

"Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.... Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.

Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. Let us see your miracles again; let our children see your glory at work.

And may the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!" Ps 90:12-17 (NLT)

When waiting seems wasteful, God reminds me that He is purging me of the unhealthy, unproductive, distracting, and downright disruptive, old hurts, habits, and hangups. Spiritual maturity is not an overnight process; and a calling does not equal readiness - it is merely an invitation. For years, the Spirit has waited patiently for me to submit to His authority, and now it a small thing to wait on Him for preparation He knows will be needed to fulfill His will.

All of these things come into clearer focus, and I wait. No longer in despair, frustration, or anxiety. Now, there is hope. He is replacing the evil years with good ones. It just might take years to replace years, but during the waiting I hope... and excitedly look forward to the promise of a loving God that a time of miracles awaits... that my children will see God's glory at work through our own family!

I can't wait! Then again, maybe I just will... as I look around I can see it's already begun! :0)

Admiration

There are moments in life when time stops. Sometimes it's tragedy, at other times it is inspiration or awe. In a child, there are so many moments of wonder, amazement. Nothing matters but that instant in time, and the particular treasure they have discovered. It's usually something insignificant...something so mundane that adults never notice. But kids don't miss it.

It was like a wrestling match trying to get our 8 year old son, Nate, to remember to read his Bible each morning. "Gotta start the day right", "Let God talk to you" we told him. But we missed something. To a child, wonder and amazement at an awesome God does not start with words. It starts with something tangible...inspiring. A few days ago, Nate decided he would get up at 6:30 and go on the back porch to watch the sun rise. He ran in a few minutes later, talking a hundred miles an hour about the stars, Venus, and that he had to get his book on constellations. I followed him outside and was amazed at the number of stars we could still see just before sunrise. I pointed out Orion, Jupiter, and we couldn't believe how bright Venus was.

I went back inside to finish my own "quiet time", you know, reading, prayer, etc. Nate ran back in a few minutes later...."Dad, Dad, there are bats flying around, you gotta see this!". "In a minute" I told him. He's just a kid, and kids just can't seem to understand how important listening to God is, and I knew I'd join him in a few minutes.

Moments later, he ran back in again... "Dad, you GOTTA see this sun rise! The sun is just starting to shine through the trees!". "I'll be right there" I told him. Apparently, another fib, because I was REALLY getting into something good in Habbakthaniah or somewhere.

About 5 minutes later he came in again... "Dad, you MISSED it... why didn't you come outside?" His words dropped off in disappointment. I stood there, running the tape of the morning over in my mind. Why did I keep putting him off? Why was a concept of God that I was reading more important than an actual interaction with Him? With His creation? With one of His children?

The last few days, Nate has been up each morning at 6:30 sharp. No one has to remind him to read his Bible. He comes bounding down the stairs, races to the porch, and drags the plastic chair out into the grass so he can get as close as he can to the to the magic of the morning. In between events, he reads a little, talks to God in amazement, and jumps out of his chair when the next lizard, bat, bird, or star makes its appearance. I admire him... God used my own son to teach me how to "be still, and know that I am God"...how to be amazed not just by what He says, but by what He's doing...how to REALLY listen to him. Thank you Nate!

~ Steve

Persistence

A few quotes given to us by friends which have been very encouraging when the daily battle becomes a grinding, protracted, and tiring war:

"It does require the supernatural grace of God to live the twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus.
It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things." ~ Oswald Chambers

"We should apply ourselves unceasingly to this one end, to so rule all our actions that they be little acts of communion with God; but they must not be studied, they must come naturally, from the purity and simplicity of the heart." ~ Brother Lawrence

Travel abroad...

We just returned from a whirlwind visit of family. We truly enjoy the friendships we have with our extended family (not something to take for granted, we are very blessed!).

On the way, we stopped by the historic town of Savannah, Georgia. And you can't stop by this town without checking out Paula Deen's restaurant, and we also found the Pirate House Restaurant (legendary hang-out of pirate Captain Flint - from Treasure Island).

Next, we stopped by Shelby, NC to visit Steve's cousin and family. They own several coffee shops (Broad River Coffee - with excellent coffee, by the way).

Next stop: Columbus, OH to visit Steve's brother and family. Lot's of fun with 6 kids in the house for the week. :0) Actually, we all thought it was easier with more kids, since they hung out and played a lot together! Also visited the Creation Museum in PA, which shows the history of the world through a Biblical perspective.

Finally, Charles City, VA (near Williamsburg) to celebrate with Jessica's brother and his wife as they were ordained as a pastors. How exciting - we're very proud of them both! We stopped by colonial Williamsburg and the highlight of the visit was the....

...amazing history? Nope.

...old buildings dating back to early 1700s? Nope.

....it was the horses. Friendly horses, actually.

We also stopped by their home and enjoyed the amazing view of the river from a friend's dock. Amazing!

We will miss everyone, and we are so thankful for this very special time in our lives in which we could share these wonderful relationships! We love you all! :0)

We had a wonderful day on Saturday. We took the family to the beach, and we found so many amazing sea shells that we had never seen before. In fact, Nate (8 years old) found a very special one. He wrote about it here...

"we found the shell in the beach.we found an octopus in a diferrent shell."

In fact, when Nate found a shell just like the one pictured, we opened it and found a small octopus in it and we played with it for a while. That is, until it BIT Nate on the hand. That's right, who knew that a baby octopus would bite? Well, this little guy had a beak, and the first clue should have been that even the little ones use their beaks to break open clams and crabshells. No doubt he just had lunch thanks to the former owner of the shell. Anyways, what an amazing sight to see it as we put it back in the water and watched it jet away like a squid.

Sunrise

Lamentations 3:22-24 "God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!I'm sticking with God..."

Sunday morning, I woke Nate up before the sun, and we got in the car and headed toward the beach. It was our weekly date time (although now he likes to call it our "adventure" rather than a date!), and I had a special plan. What made this plan so great was that it included a nice, hot cup of coffee and a stop at the Lighthouse Donut shop. After grabbing our very fresh, very delicious key lime donuts, we went across the street, sat on a bench and watched the sun come up. It reminded me why I love the morning so much. Everything was so clean, so new, so peaceful. Even the sand was nearly untouched, except for some random bird footprints, and those of a few other early-morning risers like ourselves.

God's goodness is too much to wrap my mind around. Every morning, I get a new, clean, untouched start, and I get to decide how it will go. No, I don't pick what will happen, what unexpected things may jar me, but I can choose, in the morning, that I will empty myself of all my junk, beg God to fill me up with His Spirit, and decide, first thing, that I am going to bow to God's authority and control.

Thank You for the morning.