Gut Kicks & Bedtime Lemonade

(From Jay)

I find myself today having an interesting mixture of feelings. I read Camille’s heading below of ‘Bloom Where You Are Planted’…and it makes me smile.

Yesterday, I got some tough news. The kind of news that you don’t like getting in your life. The kind of news that makes you feel ill and sick to your stomach. But life goes on. It wasn’t anything life threatening or health related. It was just some bad news about something very important and very personal to me. I felt like I had approached everything carefully…I was prayerful…and cautious…and in the end, I was left with egg on my face going, ‘what just happened?’. From my perspective, it involved some deceit and misinformation, but in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that I spent half the night watching the clock going, ‘what just happened?’.

The only thing you can do is look up and say, “God, you are in control.” You give…and you take away….blessed be the name of the Lord!

So, while intentionally keeping this general…I remain where I am and must resolve to continue to bloom where I am planted…
and so I shall! And I feel myself attacking life a little harder today than yesterday…funny what an adjustment in attitude and perspective can do.

But it doesn’t change the fact that it stings, that it doesn’t make sense, that you deal with what you could have and should have done. It can drive you crazy if you let it. You just can’t let it. As my good friend, Chris Lambert, says, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff”.

It did have one thing that came out of it that was awesome. Once again, I was wowed by what a wonderful, supportive wife I have. I forget that too often. She really is amazing, and too often I don’t see it, or I focus on her negative qualities. I am very thankful to God for Camille, and I love her!

And lastly, it’s amazing how God can take a lemon afternoon and turn it into lemonade by bedtime. When we finally all got settled into our living room and were having some last minute bible time…Sam, one of our 7 year old twin boys, confirmed his decision to Mom & Dad that he wants to be a follower of Jesus. He has brought up a few times, but we have intentionally made him come back just to have confirmation in his decision. We talked about it last night, prayed about it, and our Son, thanks to the love of God the Father, the drawing of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, confessed his belief in Christ, and his desire to follow Him. What a blessing! No amount of celebration is enough…and yet we often don’t make a very big deal of it. But, thank you God for this incredible blessing. With the exception of Lori, who is 3…all of our children have made professions of faith…and it is my prayer…my hope that they will all follow hard after Christ…and persevere to the end.

Now, here it is Friday, and we prepare to head out tomorrow morning for our summer vacation…heading to Gulf Shores, Alabama. In light of yesterday’s drama...the timing couldn’t be better.

Praises to you God for my salvation, my faith, my wife, my children, my job, my church, my family and friends…and our family vacation!