Tag Archives: gratitude

Summer Break

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, I have two things.  One, thanks.  I really appreciate you taking time to invest in this.  Two: I’m sorry I haven’t written in several weeks.  Quite honestly, it’s been a tough summer.  In short:
1. Got the worst food poisoning I’ve ever had. At a graduation party.  I have NEVER been sick like that before.
2. Developed kidney stones. Three days before a mission trip.  I have NEVER felt pain like that before.  Geesh!
3. My computer died unexpectedly.  Three days before a mission trip.  With every file and record for the trip on it.
4. I haven’t felt right physically much at all this summer.
5. Our Kings Island trip was the roughest I’ve had in a while.
6. We were turned down for a sabbatical grant that we were REALLY hoping to get for next year, after tons of work went into it.

So, there is my whining.  BUT, there is the other side as well:
1. Got to take a Sunday off and go mountain bike riding with a bunch of guys who have been asking me for ten years to go.  One of the best days I’ve had in a long time!
2. I’ve taken several vacation days, and got to hang out with Jill and the girls a bit more this summer.
3. Our Atlanta mission trip with the senior high was AMAZING and I saw God work in so many people over the course of the week.
4. All of my “sickness” is pretty petty, and non-life threatening.  I am so grateful for that.
5. I’ve started a second job working at the local bike shop in town as mechanic.  Such a generous opportunity from God for sure.

In the midst of all this, I haven’t been writing any.  And I can tell.  I mainly write on here for cathartic purposes.  It’s just good for my soul and mind to write.  I’ve missed it.

Now, I have a lot of vacation days coming up, along with middle school camp in Wisconsin for a week.  I simply won’t be on here regularly.  But I am going to do my best to write more than I have, just for my own sake.

How about you?  How is your summer going?  I’m sure there are several things that are tough right now, and quite likely they are much, much more serious and worse than my little issues.  But what about what God has blessed you with this summer?  I want to encourage you to stop, and write them out.  He is SO good to us, far beyond what we can ever hope for.  Be sure to take some time to practice saying “thanks” today.  It’s good for you.

Sinkholes, Fire, Plagues, and Me

In Numbers 16 and 17 the story of the people grumbling against Moses, Aaron and God continues.  Repeatedly in these stories the people complain about how they are being treated, God decides to be done with them, Moses begs for Him not to do it, and they are spared.  But several thousand of them still suffer for their disobedience.  God sends a plague to kill some, fire comes from the Tabernacle and burns up 250 priests, and the ground opens up and swallows two families.  It’s crazy stuff.

Moses keeps begging God to forgive and save the people.  He really is a foreshadowing of Jesus to come.

Here is my question for the day, though.  How are we, how am I, acting like the Hebrews?  Where am I grumbling before God, complaining about my blessings, choosing to see my past and my present through distorted lenses?  Where am I deserving death?  Yeah, I know, that’s harsh.  But true.  I don’t want to live in such a way that I am ungrateful before God, and cause Him the stress that the people of Israel caused Him. 

I look at their story, and I get disgusted with them.  I think that they are hopeless, foolish, selfish, idiots.  I want God to destroy them.  But that’s the point.  We are supposed to feel like that.  And when we do, the Spirit whispers in our ears, “Are you really all that different?”

I’m not different at all.

I have so much to be thankful for, and I’m so quick to complain to God about what I don’t have.

I’m sorry God.  I really am.

Help me, help us, to be grateful.  You deserve it.

And thanks for not opening up a huge hole in the earth and swallowing my house. 

That I am definitely grateful for.

Just Some of the Reasons


I realized this morning just how negative I’ve been lately. I’m not even sure how long it’s been going on. I have definitely not been counting my blessings at all. I’ve been selfish, ungrateful, whiny, and generally a pain in the keister. Wow. That’s not fun to admit….

So, here is my list of a few things for which I am grateful:
1. My God: He is so good to me that I can’t describe it. That doesn’t mean I get off the hook from contemplating it though.
2. My wife: she truly is just second to God. She is a gift, an amazing person, and I do not appreciate her enough.
3. My children: they rock. they are generous, smart, healthy, funny, kind, and they love me like crazy and show it. I’ve got to return that favor much more expressively.
4. My parents: my mom and Jill’s parents are amazing. I can’t begin to describe how great they are!
5. My church: we struggle and bump along, and I really enjoy that. I love the fact that we don’t have it all together.
6. My health: God is so good to me that little pains hurt. I live so pain free that little things show up on my radar. I’m grateful for that.
7. My home: I absolutely love our new house, with it’s creaky floors and dozens of projects to take on. I love the toads in the yard, the owl hooting at night, and the quiet evenings.
8. Our students: we have the best group of students ever.
9. Their parents: it’s no surprise the kids are so good when you meet the people raising them.
10. My class at Taylor: its a challenge, and I love and need that. What a gift that I get to teach it. so many more qualified people than me, but yet I get to do it.
11. Indiana: I love the harvest, the sunshine, and the people. It’s beautiful in a new way all the time.

Obviously, the list could trail on about comfortable shoes, my friends, and so much more. Many of you would be on this list too, and are. I appreciate you so much for your support and love of me, and for the prayers you offer for me.

I will do better today. I have so many reasons to be grateful.