The Invitation

Some days, or minutes, are full of God and so they are full of goodness and joy and hope and the incredible excitement of seeing lives change for the better. And some days, and minutes, are full of something else. It is such an incredible thought to me right now that God offers us the former and wants it for us more than we want it for ourselves. I feel like I'm in on the full of God deal right now. Conversation with God as in a circle of friends is what we get to experience. Conversations that go where they should and we sense God at work. A sense of well being that makes life seem good and dreams seem like they will really happen. And all these things we wrap into an idea that sounds so simple, even though it's not: we call it prayer. And yet isn't prayer what opens our view to what is and could be? Isn't prayer what opens people's hearts to God and us more than anything we think and say and do, even for them? Isn't prayer the strength and love and fellowship and belonging and journey and adventure? All that we long for and all that we experience is so much more than the thing itself - it is God in the interaction, the conversation, the shared life. Glory to God for His indescribable gift.

Not a Solitary Life

People we care about pull us into things beyond us. With Rachel training and raising money and starting a new ministry in Colombia and Abby off to intern with Denny in Tampa for the summer and her passion for India, just home from a choir tour in Mexico how is a dad supposed to even know what to think about? And then there's Dena finishing her school year of teaching and planning for another year. I am aware of so many ministries and needs and movings of God that I wonder who I am and where I am in all of it. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. Or maybe it is all about the world and what God really has in mind. Maybe this is all kingdom come. I love and care about people in Medellín, Colombia and Silguri, India because I care about my girls enough to care about what they care about. The world seems so big when we think of the problems. But it seems smaller when we think of the people we love. I pray that the world would become smaller and smaller by the inclusion of people into love and prayer and friendship and the family of God.