Birthdays and Mountains

Nineteen? Yes, this child is 19! Unbelievable! And this picture suits him so well. My son, the amazing, hilarious, cocky, "I've got this," tenderhearted, adventurous barrel of fun has just crossed another threshold of life. This pose is so typical of his stance when his dad or I have just told him something about how it's gonna be. And he might reply, "Now mama" with just a hint of "I don't think so" (well, really it's more than just a hint...probably more like, "I'll show you!") I know, hard to believe that a child of mine would actually have their own idea about "how it's gonna be" but it's true! This one definitely has his own ideas (they all do, some are just more expressive than others). But, isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Truly, he IS becoming a beautiful person (and always has been...remember, this is his mom speaking, ha!). Nineteen and ready to charge the world to become something huge! What that will be....we're still not sure...he's still not sure...but, one thing's for sure...it will be something huge, something great!

One of his birthday gifts is a trip back to the mountains for another quest at snowboarding. He and Caleb will hardly sleep between now and Wednesday morning when we throw the suitcases in the trunk, set our cruise to 75 and hit the road heading northeast. Steven and I will be in hog heaven just taking in the beauty of it all; the scenery and the company. The word for today was balance. At least it was the main thought in our message this morning at Faith. And, its so true that periodic times of serenity are not only needed but vital to living balanced lives. That's what these several days will be, and we are thankful to have this opportunity.

Psalm 125:2 says, "As the mountains surround Jerusalem (literally), so the LORD surrounds His people (literally in the unseen world) both now and forevermore." Isn't that good? I will gaze upon some literal mountains this week and I'm thankful in advance for the surrounding presence of the LORD Who will minister to me there. In a new way. In a fresh way. I love Him so!

No Super Bowl Can Touch This!

Do you love the House of God? Maybe I should say, do you not just love being in the presence of the LORD? I mean really KNOWING He's in the midst of His people. Can you fathom that He would even want to be with us? We are so undone, so messed up, so undeserving, so in need of His mercy yet He desires us. Imagine. I'm overwhelmed once again to think of His great love.

We had such an amazing service this morning. I hope you did too! This Lord's day was SO good. Not that they all aren't, but you know sometimes God just WOW's you. (And I'm sure the frequency of that happening is solely dependent on us, not Him.) We were blessed this morning to hear a minister from West Africa share what God has called him to do as He has just begun his journey to raise support to go back to his homeland and plant churches, teach & preach the Word of God and help provide clean water for the people. God put him in our path not by accident, but so we could join Him in the work He is doing across the earth. Amazing!

We were so blessed by our Brother John and his family and what God is doing. It was such a sweet time hearing from heaven. And, God allowed us at Faith Church to be the first to give to his work! What an honor! May the seeds planted today grow and multiply a hundred fold for the kingdom of God! Glory to His Name!

"As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead...What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people." ~Galatians 6:14,15b