my wife is great. she let me sleep in this morning. too bad it's hard to get two 4-year-olds on board with that plan. they were grumpy and couldn't stop yelling, so i had to end up getting out of bed and yelling back at alex. i think gloomy sunday mornings are satan's attack on us before we head off to corporate worship.
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a couple weeks ago, john finn asked about my playing softball this year. i told him with bringing in the girls, finances were tight, and i just couldn't see dropping $35 to play when i have disc golf, which is free. he asked me this morning again if i had made up my mind, and i told him i still wasn't sure. he handed me a $35 check after class and said, "here, play softball. if you decide you can't use it for that, use it for something else. maybe take sarah out for dinner or something." that's amazing to me. it's only softball, and it's only $35... but still amazing. so i got money today and a hose and lawn fertilizer spreader yesterday... god is good.
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the sermon was good this morning too, talking about healthy marriages. the second to last line in my notes says "your relationship is marked by passion... for christ and his calling (on our marriage)." i thought of his 'calling' as one would answer a phone and found it funny in a sadly ironic sort of way that many of us have caller i.d. now-a-days. god has worked through our conscience so many times that when we see his name pop up on the digital display, we ignore the call b/c we're sick of the conviction. we need to start picking up the phone!!
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we also sang a song in church this morning with the key line of "not to us, but to your name be the glory." we've sang this song many times in the past, and it's never really hit me until this morning for some reason. i may have included this in a prior blog, but i once wrote the following in my little notebook: "i try to live in such a way that the good i do is lived in thanks to god rather than in hopes of getting something in return; but i would be a liar if i denied my own selfishness, and for this i repent daily, praying god will continue to rain down grace, allowing me to closer shift my gaze to him." i take the glory a lot. even when i come across as humble, there's still that small piece of me that wants the credit, and the world tells me i deserve it. but i don't... god does. psalm 127:1-2 says. "unless the lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. unless the lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. in vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves." everything i have is given from above. everything i am was created from above. everything i do is worked through from above. i don't give him the credit like i should, but he deserves it... it's his.
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after church, we all got a much needed nap. sarah woke up crazy though... which is fine b/c i love it when she's in a goofy mood. but we got outside and did some yard work. i mowed the lawn for the first time this year, which didn't necessarily excite me until i felt the cushiony seat of my tractor under me and the roar of the mower blade kick on, the smell of the grass and the slight breeze under a partly sunny sky.
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and that was essentially my day to this point. i did have to go up after we put the girls to bed to find out who was out of bed. alex had made her way to the bathroom, and i caught her on her way out thinking proudly of her that she had gotten up to go potty. she told me she was washing her hands... nothing more, just washing her hands. grace welled up inside me as i stifled an irritate scream. i sent her back to bed with a warning. why would she need to wash her hands if she didn't go potty? gotta love little kids and what they'll do to stay up just a trifle longer.
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favorite bible verse read today: "the lord says: these people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." (isaiah 29:13) - i think of all the sunday-only-christians. we can talk the talk, sing the songs, pray the prayers, and seem outwardly righteous to our fellow church-goers and the world. but if the inside is rot, then so are we. if we believe god and that his word is as important as we speak it to be, then we need to live it. my favorite song right now is by monk & neagle called 'the twenty-first time'. it talks of the needy people he's passed and ignored '21 times.' their faces are etched into his mind, and he can't forget the looks on their faces, regretting not doing something for them. then the ringer at the end is "this is a call for a change in my heart. i realize that i've not been doing my part. when i needed a savior, i found it in him. he gave to me, now i'll give back to them. a drifter, a stranger, a daughter, a son. i'll look for jesus in everyone. cause i am the body and drink of the wine, and i'm thankful this morning: the 21st time." that pumps me up in a very humbling way.
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only picture taken today (by yours truly):
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