A little R & R!

If you haven't heard, my family and I are taking a little R & R for the next few weeks. We'll be traveling through the southern part of Utah (Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, to the 4-corners area, and also Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! We are definitely in need of a break from the day to day routines and stresses of life! Please pray for our safety and sanity from spending 16 days straight with each other! I don't know if I'll have internet access while on our trip. If not, you'll hear from me after my vacation!

Faith

I think I can safely say, it has been a rough few months for me for a multitude of reasons. I think of the old saying, "When it rains, it pours!" It's been a season of pouring rain in my life. Now, I feel like I'm coming out on the other end of the rainy season with a greater sense of faith. It is only through those trials that one grows, and this time it is my faith in God that has grown. I have been, and still am, in the midst of things too big for me to handle. I am finally in a position, where I throw my hands up and say, "God, I can't do this! I can only trust in you and have faith that you will get me through!" I picture Him smiling, nodding His head, and saying, "She is finally where I want her. She has finally come to the understand that she can't do everything on her own, and needs My help." I guess, I've always given lip service to God about how I want his guidance, and want His will to be done. For some reason, this time it feels different. Instead of just talking about it, I'm now walking it. That's a very scary thing, but there is a peace about me. A peace that it all will work out. A peace that says I don't have to have all of the answers. A peace that God IS in control. Thank God for that!

He said "YES!!!"

Most of you know that we have been in the process of hiring a new youth minister at our church. For the last few months, my life has been rather chaotic juggling the children's ministers duties along with trying to hold together the youth ministry stuff. Through all of that, we have also feverishly been searching for a new youth minister. I can't tell you how many countless hours we have spent in meetings, on the phone and in prayer searching for the right person for the position. Over Mother's Day weekend offered the position to a young gentleman, and have been long anticipating the phone call saying he would accept the job. So, he said "YES!" We all breathed a deep breath, smiled and said "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" Now, it is with much joy (and anxiousness) that we begin a new journey in our lives!

Good vs. Bad

So, I was at the funeral of my friend's brother yesterday. The preacher was talking about how we like to ask why bad things happen to good people. I found myself asking the same thing. It's just not fair. Why does one family get hit with so much grief? They are good people. The preacher challenged us and said once again, maybe we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the questions should be, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" I had to stop and think about that. Why do good things happen to bad people? I've still be mulling that over in my head. We think we are good people. As Americans, we think we are entitled to a good life. We've worked hard, we pay our taxes, we go to church, we haven't murdered anyone, we don't abuse our children, etc... Life should treat us well, because of all the good things we've done. In reality, we live in a fallen world. We are not good people. We all have sinned. It only took one sin for us to deserve punishment and death. It is only by the grace of God that we have been saved from eternal death. So why is it that we think we are such good people, and no harm or pain should come our way. We deserve much worse. Bad things will happen, and that is not to belittle the pain and suffering when we lose those we love. But instead of trying to figure out why bad things happen, maybe we should turn our eyes to the many good things that God has blessed us with. We don't deserve the good things anymore than we deserve the bad things. Its just we take the good things for granted, and somehow think that we are responsible for those good things happening to us. In reality, it is God that blesses us with the many good things in our life. Those are things that we don't deserve.

Prayer

Would you please pray for my friend, Juli, and her family. Her youngest brother was killed in a motorcycle accident yesterday. He was only 26 years old. Unfortunately, that family knows the pain of loosing a child/brother/sister, because a little over a year ago Juli's sister was killed in a skiing accident at the age of 19.

I find myself asking God "why" things like this happen. Most of the time I can never come to a good answer. I recently read this quote in the book Daily Devotions Inspired by 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. "Instead of 'Why me, God?' isn't it better to ask, 'How, God? How do I feel your comfort? How do I draw close? How can I move beyond my pain?' As we start to ask the right questions, we move closer to the correct answers." For my friend and her family, instead of asking why God, I will turn my prayers into praying for them to feel Your comfort, praying for them to draw close to You, and praying that You can help them move beyond the pain.

(I attached a photo of our families camping at a state park in Indiana many years ago.)

Cold remedy?

I'm not real big on taking any kind of medicine, but when a nasty cold strikes I'd do anything to make it better. I've been coming down with a cold for the past week after running myself into the ground. I just don't have time to be sick! So, I was rummaging through the medicine cabinet and came across this box of Zicam. It claims to reduce the severity and duration of a cold. At that point I would have tried anything. I'm still a bit skeptical, but I think it really may have helped. The problem is, you never really know if your cold was going to get better without the medicine? I don't know. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this stuff out?

Spice of life!

Howdy all! Many times my blog consists of my not so deep thoughts! This time, I thought I'd write about some good times I've had with old friends and family.

The highlight of my weekend was spending time with Joe and Charlie. Joe owns the property where we live. He was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor that was cancerous. He's since had surgery and many weeks of treatment. We're trying to keep our hopes up for a long and healthy future, God willing. Many prayers have been sent up concerning Joe and his family. It was great to see him again with a smile on his face and a renewed sense of purpose and life to him. He was beaming from ear to ear while telling us about the half a dozen 5-6 pound bass he caught in the back pond. Joe's cousin, Charlie, was also over from St. Louis. It was one year ago that Charlie and his wife were involved in a serious car accident. A car jumped the curb and struck both of them, killing Charlie's wife and nearly taking Charlie's life. He suffered many injuries including serious brain damage. The doctors were not very optimistic about his quality of life due to the damage, but Charlie has proved them all wrong. A year later, one would hardly be able to tell anything has changed. We had a fabulous time with Charlie taking a walk around the property and checking our bluebird houses.

I also got to spend the day with my oldest son on a field trip to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, KY. We had a great time riding roller coasters and amusement park rides. It's probably been 15 years since I've ridden roller coasters like these. The new stand-up coaster was the biggest thrill! I felt like a teenager again! :)

I'm thankful for these breaks in my day to day routines that add to the spice of life!

Small Town

I thought I'd share an article in this week's edition of our local paper. (Yes, our paper only comes out once/week.) "Midwest Living magazine recently released its annual list of the 100 Best Small-Town Getaways. No 6.--Nashville (Brown County) According to the magazine, editors looked at 8,500 Midwest towns with populations of less than 20,000." I think that is pretty impressive, our small-town is ranked #6 out of 8,500. Every year I live in this small-town, I like it more and more. Yes, the traffic is horrible in October when the tourists flood the small-town, but we can live with that. I like that people smile and wave while driving by. I like that tractors drive down the highway, the same highway that floods each time it rains. I like that everybody knows everybody. I like the slower pace of living. I like that I can see the stars at night, because we aren't surrounded by millions of lights. I think I could go on and on about all that I like about a small town.

That reminds me of John Mellencamp's song, Small Town. Well I was born in a small town. And I live in a small town. Prob'ly die in a small town. Oh, those small communities. All my friends are so small town. My parents live in the same small town. My job is so small town. Provides little opportunity. Educated in a small town. Taught the fear of Jesus in a small town. Used to daydream in that small town. Another boring romantic that's me. But I've seen it all in a small town. Had myself a ball in a small town. Married an L.A. doll and brought her to this small town. Now she's small town just like me. No I cannot forget where it is that I come from. I cannot forget the people who love me. Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town. And people let me be just what I want to be. Got nothing against a big town. Still hayseed enough to say. Look who's in the big town. But my bed is in a small town. Oh, and that's good enough for me. Well I was born in a small town. And I can breath in a small town. Gonna die in this small town. And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me.