The past few months have been pretty crazy with moving, settling, business trips, and baseball. There's lots to write about and I probably have a handful of draft posts with random notes but have not had the time to complete the thoughts enough to hit the publish button. One thing that has become extremely clear through both circumstances and random playful reminders from God is that he has been right here with us along the way. Sitting on our back porch in the morning (once the oak pollen vacated the premises) has become one of my favorite things to do, sipping coffee, reflecting, and observing the majesty of creation unfolding in our back yard.
The first day it was an escape from the madness of moving, a simple prayer "God, I'm here, I need you, I'm going to try and focus as much as I can despite the chaos around me, come meet with me" that was immediately followed by loud rustling in my neighbor's back yard. An armadillo, likely the same one our other neighbor has been trying to keep out of his tomato garden for years to no avail. Funny. A little while later I was wrestling with something else (or maybe my mind was wandering off, probably more likely) and a crane squawked loudly and crashed down into the creek, a startling yet somewhat gentle reminder that the birds of the air neither reap nor sow yet they are cared for and worrying will not add a single hour to my life. ref
Just this morning I was praying about our finances and upcoming expenses and a handful of deer appeared by the creek, grazed a bit (in the grass someone had just expertly weed-eated) and then one playfully crashed into the water and made its way to the other side reminding me of Psalm 23:2: "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me by quiet waters." I think 23:3 is where David talks about doing a cannonball into those waters...
Anyways, I've been continuously encouraged by the tidbits provided to me here and there when I actually take the time to slow down and allow them to come and wanted to share. I've prayed a lot of things lately out of frustration and desperation and this excerpt from the book I'm going through with some guys at work (Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller) pretty much sums it up:
"The gospel assures me that God cares about everything I do and will listen to my prayers. He may not answer them the way I want, but if he doesn't it is because he knows things I do not. My degree of success or failure is part of his good plan for me. God is my source of strength and perseverance."
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