Faithfulness

Last week was a crazy week! Wonderful, but crazy. On Wednesday, McGregor celebrated the 25th anniversary of Cary's ministry. Val drove in, Julie flew in, and we surprised Cary at lunch. He THOUGHT he was meeting someone else, but it was us! We had a wonderful time and laughed a whole lot. The church presented Cary with a watch in the evening service, and then had a reception for us. So many made sacrifices to be there for the night. Many we had not seen in such a long time. After that, some of our "old timers" took over for Cary and did Metro. Needless to say, it was pretty comical, but also a real blessing to be reminded of God's faithfulness over the years. Many people had sent emails that were in a binder and presented to Cary. After all this, we went out to dinner with some of the kids and closed down Chili's! We were out quite late for our age, actually. But sometime between the very late night and very early morning, we had some unexpected guests that very quietly TP'd our house. They did a first class job. Oh, that we ALL could be so loved!

Yesterday was...well, emotional. It is impossible to love and not hurt when those you love hurt. One of our boys is in Tampa all week, being tested to see if he can have brain surgery to stop his seizures. A girl that we know is having a brain tumor removed this morning. Another girl still waits to hear from her family in Haiti. Another one of our girls has walked away from the Lord and blocked us out of her life, for right now. Several without jobs. Haiti in general...how do we even process this disaster? And, yesterday was the 4th anniversary of mom's death. Cary and I went to bed last night and tossed and turned, neither of us sleeping. My mind would not turn off and my heart would not stop hurting.

So, I finally made a choice that I was going to think about all the good things that happened during the day. My day started out with seeing our precious Grace baptized at her church. We have known her all her life and watched the process unfold. She will forever have the baptism anniversary of mom's death...kind of neat, I think. There was the young man in our class that had been away from the Lord for a while, but now has been back and faithful for a year! The three from our ministry that Cary had the priviledge to baptize. The girl that came to me and wants to rededicate her life next week and wants me to go forward with her, and also request baptism. A hug from one of my boys that was "in the big house" for a year and now is back where we can see and touch and love on him! Lunch with my family...there is NOTHING like having all of us in one place at the same time, but oh, so very difficult to pull it off! At some point, I finally fell asleep and when I woke, the sun was up and sleep had been good! I am trying really hard to DO something I read about last week. When we pray, we tell God everything that is on our mind. Then, when those things come back through our heads, we THANK Him for the answers He set in motion long before we can discern the results. Faithful. He is faithful.

Happy 2010!

It was 25 years ago today that Cary and I drove into Ft Myers, making it our home. We had no idea of the blessings that would be ours in this place. Only dreams of the three children God would give us here...all three being born here. No idea that it could even be possible that we would still be at the same church where we arrived fresh out of seminary! Now, maybe, just maybe, the biggest surprise is that I would be found today, in front of the TV, grieving our precious Bobby Bowden's last game at Florida State. No, 25 years didn't make me a Florida State fan, just a Bobby fan. I don't know any more about football than I did 25 years ago. I just love a man I've never met that has been found faithful and has stood firm, touched many lives, made a difference. He is about people. I'm still not a sports fan, but my family has certainly pulled me into a lot of stories about people that have made a difference in the lives of others while playing sports!

P.S. After I wrote this post, I found out today is also Tebow's last game for the Gator's. It's just too much grieving for one day! I can't imagine what a true sports person is dealing with! I'm feeling pretty good about my sports interest. It's 11:30 and I'm not going to bed till it's over! I won't get to see this again! What an impact and testimony this guy has had!