Time to get back in the groove

I took a few weeks off from blogging and in that time so much has happened that I thought I would just knock out some bullet points to catch up. So here's some of what I've experienced in the past few weeks.

• Celebrated New Year's in West Virginia and saw WVU lose to FSU at Bobby Bowden's last game as head coach.
• Saw Natalie play in the snow for the first time...including the construction of a snowman, snowball fight, sledding, and the high calorie eating of the snow.
• Had death impact friends and family as only that enemy can do. Pray for comfort for the grieving.
• Preached a sermon on the inseparable connection between God's will and God's word. God rocked that one!!!
• Was extremely encouraged by two believers who just want to be used by God and be supportive of their pastors. Thanks guys. You don't know how much that means.
• I turned 36 recently. Who knows what God has planned this year? At 35 I ran a marathon and saw the birth of our second child. That alone will fill up a year!!!!
• I am entering the world of electric guitar. It was once said that the electric guitar is of the devil. I guess I like living on the edge.:-)
• This Sunday is our homecoming at WJACC. We are kicking off our week of Spiritual Enrichment with additional services Sunday (6pm), Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (7pm). Brent Ross will be our special speaker through the entire week and I am pumped!! Brent is a man after God's own heart and has a desire to see people come closer to an Almighty God. Please invite your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors for this special week of worship.
• "Fireside Blend" from World Market is some of THE best coffee I have ever tried.
• We are going through Colossians in our Wed. night Bible study and God is showing us just how mysterious He really is. He is so cool and sooooo creative.
• Finally, I hope and pray that this blog has been an encouragement for someone this past year and it is my prayer that you may benefit from it in some way this coming year. Just by reading my humble ramblings you play a role in my walk with Christ and I hope this forum is an encouragement for you in your walk with Christ as well.
• ps. Here's a will willimon quote that made me laugh so hard the other day I almost had to pull over..."I saw a sign the other day that read...'a church for those who don't like church'...I thought, man I don't want to deal with folks that don't like church. I can barely stand the ones that love the church." (Don't be offended by that statement...just laugh and carry on. :-)

turning...

This has been a week that no one really wants to see and yet God has shown Himself in some very cool ways. Within 24 hours of each other I sat with a family as they told their twin 8 year-olds that their father had passed away and then I received word that some good friends of mine had also experienced lose. Both were hard to swallow. Both lead to unanswerable questions. Both can not be explained away. Both really, really suck!

Then I was struggling with how to lead Bible study Wednesday night and Allison suggested we just praise and worship. My first thought was selfish b/c I tend to put a lot more time planning something like that than I had left in the day. But God kept nudging me in that direction. So I picked out some songs and then said "Ok, God, You know what you are doing."...and boy does He ever.

Wednesday night we prayed and sang and held hands and lifted each other up and sat still and cried and worshiped and experienced THE almighty God. At the end of it all one person came up to me and said, "tonight, we had church."

Wednesday I cried for all my friends. Mostly during the most random moments. Wednesday night I worshiped with those tears. Now yesterday and today I've worshiped God with what He has graciously given me. I've walked on the beach holding hands with my wife...the greatest Christian I've ever known...and I've played with and hugged my daughter, the personification of adventure.

As I sit here thinking back over this week God has put Jeremiah 31:13b in front of me...
"I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow."

I don't know how God does it but He is the only one who is able to turn mourning into gladness.
Don't ever forget that God is able to do anything...even comfort when it doesn't seem possible.