So about our weekend. In case you're dying to know what I did, here's a glimpse. I pray I can make it brief so you don't regret coming over.
Friday I shopped for the shower I'll be giving Brittany very soon. It was so much fun. The lists were in action and I was cruising through them and our checking account like a woman on a mission. Nothing like planning a party.
Later that day Ally went on an outing with her youth group for the night so I badgered, I mean suggested to Scott that we hop, skip and jump down to have dinner with Drew. I mercilessly may have pulled out this card, "Soon he won't be living just an hour from us but may move far far away and we'll only see him once a year. Then we'll be sorry we didn't go see him more often." He's a good egg that Scott Burtis.
Because Drew was torn between dinner with his awesome, thoughtful, fun parents and March Madness (give me strength), I promised a restaurant with tvs. We chose a Mexican one nearby and had ordered and been brought our drinks before we realized there were no tvs.
I swear it was not planned on my part. Seriously. I consider it God's favor. I have to say that I had the most delicious meal too. While the two vanillas (clones) ordered some boring dish that I could make at home, I looked over the 254 entries and gave it my best shot to create my own. You see, I wanted chimichangas, which they had, but none featured seafood. Could they make a seafood one I asked? No.
This perhaps God's favor on Scott and Drew who mocked me for trying. Instead, the manager (owner maybe?) suggested the seafood enchiladas. Because I am so easygoing, I agreed and oh my word, they were good.
Next we walked around the mall. Just for fun, I thought I'd look for a pair of shoes for Drew's wedding. God's favor again. I found exactly what I wanted. A friend had given me a coupon so I got them for cheap! I dig a good deal.
After dropping the boy back off at his dorm (and squeezing him extra tight) we made a stop at the place where the red light was on. Just because we had to.
Saturday was a fun day of visiting friends and having a girlfriend spend the night.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Sundays? Before we went to a church where Scott would preach, we watched Andy Stanley live from his church in Atlanta. Oh how we love Andy. He spoke this week about Jesus healing the man born blind and everything pertaining to it.
The main thrust being that when we read the Gospels we should deliberately look for what we can learn about God, the Father because that's one of the reasons Jesus came to earth - to reveal what the Father is like.
Side note - if you're reading the Gospels with me right now, let's make that our focus too.
These nuggets stood out and are proved in John 9.
1. God sometimes chooses to display His power through our pain. Pain is not always a result of sin.
2. God deals with people individually.
I came away re-energized to live in such a way that God gets glory through my pain. As much as possible, not just the bare minimum. This is going to require less whining, sniveling, shrinking from who I am in Christ and speaking from a place of God-confidence. I'm sucking it up.
Secondly, I love the picture Andy painted of how Jesus could have healed people simply with his voice or in mass groups even in just one day - heal them all with one sweep of His power. But He didn't do that. He spent day after day ministering to the large crowds one individual at a time. He gave each one His time, attention, and (don't miss this) His touch. Amazing. He is not an impersonal God. He's not just "God who so loved the world.". He is God, who so loved Angela and God who so loved you.
You can listen to the sermon if you click here (part 2). Did you know I read minds?
If that wasn't enough for one Sunday, Ally and I got to hear Scott preach too. When he was wrapping up the thought that God has works prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10), he told a story I've heard him tell many times but it hit me with fresh gratitude...and tears, of course.
He shared his longtime prayer for our kids that they would do more for God in their lifetime than he or I could ever do. He linked the answer to all the missions trips (each are named in my last post) our kids have been on at their ages. Good works God has prepared in advance for our kids to do. Phew. He is so good.
And this is yet another reason why I love church. Sermons. With personal illustrations. God uses them to cheer us on and equip us for our journey, not to mention dazzle us with His greatness. Get to church people!
Well, this brief post certainly has gotten away from me in details (shocking!), so let's wrap it up.
Had you stopped over Sunday afternoon, you would have found me frequently checking the American Airlines airflight tracker watching Ben's plane fly back from Panama to JFK. Cool technology, but still somewhat unnerving to see that plane and imagine your kid completely surrounded by ocean beneath him without either parent there. So grateful to get that first call hearing his voice back in the good old U.S.of A.
I will save photos for what I hope to be the next post - Ben as my guest blogger - telling you all about his trip. Stay tuned!
I also facetimed (not a verb, not in the dictionary, please forgive) with Brittany for an hour or so. Scott said I was being bossy as I asked questions and gave her homework that will help me complete my lists. I asked her if she thought I was bossy and she said, "No, not at all!" with a cute laugh. Bless her heart. Young love. I wonder how long I'll get away with it. Perhaps it's time to step away from the wedding plans.
Last but not least, we watched Frozen (Scott hadn't seen it- gasp!) but what's so interesting about that? - everybody's doing it. One of my favorite lines is (from Kristoff), "Ice is my life." Seems to be ours too here in NY. Let's go Spring - we're ready!
Have a great day and thanks for hanging with me to the end.
PS - speaking of March Madness, my favorite team, Gonzaga (because "that's fun to say") is out. Guess I'm done watching. Not that I was watching to begin with, I just asked Scott for updates.
No comments:
Post a Comment