A Personal Note

I realized halfway through the day that I needed to write a blog post. Normally I would be thinking about it throughout the week but it hadn't even occurred to me. Then I logged onto the website and realized I never posted anything last week. These two occurrences made me realize just how distracted I've been lately.

You guys, let me be honest, I love writing this blog. When someone sends me a note telling me that something I wrote made them laugh, or smile or touched their heart in some way it means the world to me. However lately I've had a lot of other things going on and today I want to share with you guys a little bit about that.

At the beginning of the year I knew that 2019 would have a lot of changes. I never imagined how many. In April my roommates and I moved, by June I had resigned my position as youth director at my church and started looking for a new church to attend. I left on good terms and with the support of the church leadership. The kids in our youth group had graduated and the ones coming up were much younger. I love working with high school students, the students coming up were primarily middle school students and needed a different kind of program to meet their needs. So after a lot of prayer I made the decision to step down. Since I was already stepping down I made the decision, again with lots of prayer and advice from wise counsel, to leave and find a new church home that I could serve in.

That decision has led to several months of me looking for a new church. Finally I'm close to finding a new church home. And now another change has come up. Some of you will remember a couple of years ago when my family's business shut down. Now the company I've been working for over the last year and a half is also being shut down. So now, as I'm settled in my new house, close to finding a new church I'm getting ready to look for a new job.

There's been a lot of other changes in 2019 but those are the big highlights. You guys, my readers, are made up of my friends and family as well as strangers from all over the world but whether I know you or not, you're all important to me, extremely important. And it's because you're so important that I wanted to explain just a little bit about why I've been distracted so that posts are going up late or missing altogether. 

Thank you friends, for understanding my distraction and giving me grace. Hopefully things will be getting back to normal, or at least back to a normal level of distraction so I can post on time, very soon.

9/11 Eighteen Years

Eighteen years ago terror struck us at the heart of our country. The images are burned into our hearts and minds. The planes full of terrified passengers, the towers that once stood so tall and proud burning as people threw themselves out windows before the flames could reach them. Those proud towers toppling to the ground. The brave first responders who sacrificed their lives so others could live. The flight that went down in the Pennsylvania field so that another building and those in it wouldn't be sacrificed. 

Eighteen years ago we swore we would never forget. Each of us can remember where we were that day. Where we were when we heard the news, who we were with, what we were doing. We remember seeing the news footage being played over and over again. I was only ten years old and I still remember it like it were yesterday.

There's another part to all this though. A part that we don't often think about. We all know where we were when we first heard the news that our country had been attacked. But do you remember where you were when you first realized that the world didn't stop turning that day even though it felt like it had?

I don't remember the exact moment that life started to return to normal for me. What I do remember is picking up a birth announcement. The date was 9/17/2001 and the name was that of my youngest cousin. I suddenly realized this was the first person that I knew or would know who was born after that fateful day that our world changed. He was born just six days after that horrible day. The firefighters and others were still sorting through the rubble, the news footage was still on our T.V.'s, people were still afraid to be in tall buildings or anywhere that would draw too much of a crowd. And yet in the midst of all that death and destruction there was something good happening in my world. A child. A baby boy. My youngest cousin. A ray of hope in the darkness.

Now, eighteen years later, Lucas has just started his senior year of high school. He's no longer just a name on a birth announcement to me. He's someone I love and someone that I have loved watching grow up. He'll always have a special place in my heart because he was the tool that God used to show me a ray of light during one of our country's darkest periods.

So may we never forget the victims, the heroes, and the families of both. But may we also remember that even in our darkest days God is still in control and He will show us His light. May we always remember what that ray of light was after 9/11 and may we continue to look for it in every situation.

Sharpening

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:17

I've been thinking about this verse a lot lately as I study the people that I have in my life. There are times when my closest friends are the ones that are having to speak truth, that's very difficult to hear, into my life. And that's as it should be. See my best friends aren't the ones that always agree with me. They're the ones who make me a better person.

Sometimes it's because they come to me with a concern or an issue. They have to tell me that what I'm doing is wrong, or at least heading down the wrong path. They may tell me that I don't have a right to be offended by something. They challenge me when we disagree over an issue and that forces me to study it further.

Sound annoying? It would be expect that I know that the reason they talk to me about these things is because they love me. They want me to make the right choices because they want what's best for me. They challenge me to make me think. They warn me when I'm being overly sensitive so I don't destroy relationships with those around me. That's what friends do. But it's not all criticism either. They listen to me, pray for and with me, hug me when I'm crying, they laugh with me and make sure I get a break from the craziness that is life.

And that's just it. These are the things that friends do.They sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron. Sometimes it's painful for someone to call you out on what you're doing but it's also necessary. I'm blessed to have friends in my life who help me become a better person and I hope and pray that I can do the same for them.

God has blessed me with amazing people in my life. Amazing people who help me draw closer to the Lord and become a better person. Sometimes it's a painful process but they help sharpen me, refining me as God refines my heart into gold. Surround yourself with people who will sharpen you as iron sharpens iron, as God intended and then work to do that for them. That's what true friendship is about.