Up All Night

Well it's time for the annual pilgrimage to the big city to spend the night. Nathan, Terri and I are headed to Best Buy to spend the night on the sidewalk! It should be a lovely time. Temperatures are at the low and so are the prices kids. Everyone on my list is getting a techie gadget. I have on three layers of clothes and these heat packs used by hunters. Look for us on the news in the morning!

The Lord Who Sees What We Cannot

Thanksgiving - a time to set aside for being thankful. Should we really have to set aside time for being thankful??? I am pondering that tonight. This weekend I was driving with Madeline in the car. We were listening to Awesome God on the radio (One of my top ten questions for God - Did you have to take Rich Mullins so soon). No one can belt out a song like Madeline and I love to belt songs out right along with her - she is delirious and thinks I can sing. So here we were driving along belting out Awesome God when out of no where came Bambi's father and man has he ever grown! And he was running right at my door! And I counted his nose hairs. I am not kidding or exaggerating one little bit when I say that if my window had been down I would have felt his breath. We were that close. At the most precious second before he hit my door he flipped around - I wish you could understand that there wasn't even enough room for him to flip himself around - and so I know it wasn't the deer who did it. I know it had to have been the hand of God picking him up and turning him around. In those seconds that went by in a flash I saw that deer move in a way that I don't think is possible. And I had to laugh. Because I think God is funny. Here we are singing "When He rolls up his sleeves He ain't just puttin on the ritz" and God was so putting on a show. I could just hear him saying "Hey Cheryl - you think I am awesome??? Well watch this!" And I was amused and I was thankful and I was mindful. But friends it gets better. I got up this morning and I was watching some guy preach on TV while I was getting ready for church. And this guy is telling this story about a man who was riding a horse and it got spooked and he had to jump off right before his horse went off of a cliff. Anyway - he was telling this preacher how he was thanking God that he gave him the ability to jump off right before the horse went off. And the preacher said isn't it amazing that you ride that way everyday and it had never crossed your mind to thank God for getting you to where you were going, but instead he had to prove himself to you to get you to be thankful! Thank you God - lesson learned. I get it! I drive that rode everyday. I see deer 3 out of every 4 trips on that road. Yet it took feeling the breath of Bambi's father to make me be thankful.

"For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways. With their hands they shall support you..." - Ps 91:11-12

"There are angels 'round my bed tonight...some are there for comfort, some are there to fight." - Kevin Max Smith

Friends, Countrymen, Fellow Settlers of Catan

Well friends, I am officially suffering from Catan exhaustion. After a two and a half hour nap, I am still feeling exhausted to be quite honest. I am old - way to old to not go to bed until after 1:30 this morning. Thanks to Heather it was a weekend of fun and frolic through the settlements of Catan. She brought this lovely game called "Settlers of Catan" to Convocation. To be quite honest, I was intimidated by the box. This looked like one of those games where you need to belong to Mensa in order to play. It was such a good time. Thanks to my partner in crime, Mr. Marsh, I settled Catan during the wee hours this morning. Now, I am on the hunt for my own box of Catan. However, upon arriving home it seems that there are different versions of Catan - do I need the travel version, the anniversary edition or just regular Catan? Do I need regular Catan, Space Catan, Knights and Castles Catan, or Mayflower Catan? Do I need the expansion packs and which expansion packs do I need? My mind is boggled. Aside from Catan, it was a great weekend to spend with friends.

``As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.'' Proverbs 27:17

Capacious

I read a quote from a William Maxwell story today. It goes this way: “and I think if it is true that we are all in the hands of God, what a capacious hand it must be.” Capacious - able to hold much. The line made me think of the song "God of Wonders". It is one of the few over-played songs that I haven't gotten sick of hearing. I am facinated with God and His ability to see and hold and watch over all of us. There are so many devastating things all around and yet we are still in His hands. And while there is such horror in the world - there is also such beauty. It is so easy to see the tragedy - but if you look hard past it, you can see the beauty. Friends - there is hope - there is wonder - there is beauty. Go out today and find it - chase it - pursue it. God has put it here for us - wouldn't it be a shame not to notice?