I'm healthy and so is the rest of the family! Thank you for your prayers. I love the morning time alone . . . cat asleep at my feet, the ticking of the clock, a good cup of coffee, reading my bible, journaling, reading books. Right now it's "How to be a hero to your kids", "End Times Simplified" and "Core Values" (George Wood). I love the mornings.
I love my kids with a new love too. I can relax with them more now and they are just fun to be with. My little Ethan is in a big boy bed now. He looks so tiny in it, but I feel like I could just look at him all night. Liam has wanted a clock so badly lately, although he cannot tell time. Steve DeVine gave him an old wind up alarm clock last night and when I got up this morning at 5am I walk into the hall to see Liam standing in there. He says, "Daddy, I was so excited about my clock that I did some pee-pee in my pants". I'm laughing with joy as I type this. My sons are priceless. I can hardly even get my mind around the fact that we're having another baby; not because it will be too much to handle, but the scope of blessing is so great. And Sara . . . what can I even say about a woman so wonderful, so godly, such a great mother, such a great friend. No words are enough.
I have some stuff going badly in my life now - minor stuff - but I just don't care. I'm too blessed and too satisfied to dwell on that.
1 comment:
this is so beautiful! i hope that my future children are as adorable and fun and HAPPY as yours. i just ate this post up, j.
So about this "testing the wind" business.. it's something that Johannes and I have spoken about a few times. He told me that he gets asked very often, "How do you know if it's the right time to speak to a certain person about Christ?" or "How do i know if it's right to pray for a certain sick person to be healed?" and then he laughs his big Austrian laugh as he wets his finger and pretends to test the wind. "Should I talk to this person about my faith?" he mocks. "OF COURSE! OF COURSE! OF COURSE! Do not focus on the uncertainty. Focus on what you are sure of. God can help them. God can use you to help them. You know these things. So go for it! Stop testing the wind as if it's not right to act on the fundamentals of the Gospel EVERYDAY. God does not change with the weather."
I have spoke with my other teachers about this as well. Sven Bengtsson (my brilliant Dean) says, "Focusing on we do not know is a trap. Satan sneaks up behind us and says, 'but what about this? and that?' and suddenly we are atheists. It's so silly! We bail on our faith because it is not complete in our minds. That's why it was faith in the first place! And all the while, the things we ARE sure of go to waste. If we would just focus on what we know, then what we know would multiply. Unfortunately, it works the other way as well. When we focus on our uncertainties, they also multiply."
But my favorite teacher of all (ha ha), Daniel Elvelyck, puts it this way: "It's too bad that we leave everything up to God, as if He hasn't already DONE everything, and left it up to us! The worst part is, when there is trouble (which we were warned about), we say, 'Well, maybe it's just not the will of God. Maybe I shouldn't go. Maybe I should back off. I can't understand the way God works, but He must not want this.' Christians can be such Muslims sometimes."
Obviously I've been collecting quotes will all my might this year. The point is, as I quoted from Johannes in the original blog, "If Christians would stop SEARCHING the will of God, and just start DOING the will of God, we would have a lot more accomplished. And really, if we just focused on what we already knew to do, there would be no time to even THINK about what we do not know for sure. That's why people who SEARCH the will of God are overrun by people who DO it."
Sheesh i am typeative. Have I explained it any better now?
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