These days are good for me

These kinds of days are so critical for Noelle and I. We were able to wake up without an alarm for the first time in a few weeks - we try to do it about once a week but with as much as we've had going on it just hasn't been possible. Then we watched one of our favorite TV shows (Lost) online with my laptop while lying in bed and sipping coffee. What has followed since was just a great day together. We need those days where we don't see many people and are just able to do as we please. To head up to Grass Valley and do some wine tasting, then decide to stop in at a fish and chips place just because we had the time and wanted a snack. And now to have her passed out on the couch with the TV on quietly as I've been flipping channels.

These are days I'm thankful to God for because these are days that, honestly, keep us going with all our responsibilities. We enjoy almost all of our work and/or ministry responsibilities (the two are usually mixed for us), but it's the brief times to pull away and do very little that we feel God reviving our spirits and strengthening us for another week of ministry ahead. Sometimes it's tough in the middle of a week to "pull back" and see how good God is to me - to be married to a wonderful woman, to be so deeply connected to a wonderful church body, to have my health, to be able to be getting slightly ahead in our finances, and so on. It's not that he's good because he gives me all these things... he's good because he's God, and that's it. Yet when I stop to "count my blessings" I see that goodness expressed in both big and little things alike. I want to develop a grateful spirit toward God whether I'm in the midst of great joy or even great despair. To know God is sovereign and rules over human history is (as I've heard it put by others) a warm blanket to my soul. So while we make plans for our future, we can continually hold them all up with open hands, asking God to lead and direct as he sees fit.

Just some thoughts