Thank God for Praying Parents

This past weekend, I was privileged to meet the parents of one of my close friends. They were the type of people who made you feel like family before the first five minutes had elapsed. But more important than that was their language when talking about their son's move to Auburn 750 miles from home. "We prayed every morning for him to find a church home and Christian friends." God not only answered their prayers but blessed me and the others this guy has befriended. I remember as a child my parents praying for us every morning. If I had a problem or was upset, I would crawl into bed with them and Dad or Mom would pray.

It is is legacy, I am still striving to uphold. My brothers have also strived to continue the legacy. They pray with their children every night.

Thank you God for praying parents.

Pumpkin Carving

This evening after Auburn beat the Arkansas Razorbacks, a group of my friends came over for some enchilladas and fellowship. We ate on the deck just laughing about life and quoting "Princess Bride." Then we carved pumpkins. God has blessed me with friends who know how to laugh at themselves but also can be so dedicated to their beliefs. It is amazing how you can find out about someones heart just by watching them carve a pumpkin. Or maybe in the grand scheme of things it is not what we did other than spend time together. I think back to my family, the night of Christmas carols around the tree, the Friday night Game night. Even when I was too young to play Rook or Scrabble, I was still spending time. I wonder how much better relationships in the church body would be if we spent more time in just normal life rather than looking at the back of their head for an hour.

From "At Home in Mitford"

“Father Tim, I'm dying.".... “I'm asking you to help me find something to make the rest of my life worth living.”

When I read this passage of the book, I just sat and thought for a moment if I was really living as if I was dying. Not in an urgent way but do I realize that God is using me right now. Even when he is preparing me for something in the future he still expects me to serve him. Not take a break or wait. I don’t know if this makes sense but it has really made me think eternally instead of temporally.

It's A Family Thing

This past weekend my entire immediate family went to Stone Mountain Park in GA. It was a great time. It is times like these that I appreciate what family means, even when it means you have inherited your father's humor. For me our family is more that just blood related. We have a connection that goes beyond physical blood because I love my sisters-in-law just as much as my brothers. We all care for each other and give each other a hard time. So often I think we miss the boat when it comes to church family. There are times where I can't stand to be around my biological family yet we think that the church family should be immune to that feeling. And the antithesis is true as well. We should rejoice with a church family member just the same as we would with a biological family member.

Get out of the Boat?

I recently asked myself if work in ministry was really the way I was wanting to go for my life. A good friend said that it is ok to be safe...but there are also times where you have to get out of the boat. So I have been praying for God to help me know when to get out of the boat and when to stay. It is a difficult thing because even being safe has some dangers and disappointements.

Marriage Wisdom

The past Sunday for class we had a marriage panel. 3 couples spoke on the ups and downs of marriage. It was wonderful to listen to so much life wisdom. I am afraid they painted a very different picture of marriage than what we see on TV. They all said marriage was hard work. To quote a singer/storyteller David Wilcox "Yeah but it's good work, if you can get it!" While I am no closer to getting married than a snail is to beating the world's record in the 100 yard dash, I do value learning about marriage. It helps me realize what the foundation is for all relationships, including my relationship with God. It begins with love. That enigmatic word that is really not a feeling at all but an action. It is how people will know we are Christians, it is how family and friends know we belong to each other. It is the tie that binds.

Change

The constant in this world is change.

I sometimes wonder what exactly a butterfly remembers. Does it remember when it was land-bound? Does it realize how different it is now?
Does it sometimes take a cocoon to bring out the beauty in us? Perhaps that why Jesus went to pray alone, those were his cocoon moments.
Even a social butterfly needs to retreat sometime.
~DD

Prayer

I have been taught my entire life that prayer is powerful. Yet I still doubt that my prayers matter or can be effective. I still fall into thinking that prayer is only acknowledgement but it is still my problem to fix.  In other words...I can leave things at the foot of God, but later I will run back and say..."Nevermind about this God, I can take care it"  Perhaps one day, I can give my worries, petitions and requests to God and forever leave it with him.

Ok so up till recently I was not sure what to "blog" about. But something happened this past weekend that changed me. I was a part of a wedding where the groom had no family. His father had been absent from his life since around 12 and his mother, aunt and grandmother, all of whom were primary caregivers through adolence and college years had all passed away. He has a sister who is mentally challenged and their relationship is more guardian/child than family.For all practical purposes, he had no family. There was no place to go for Christmas, Thanksgiving or other holidays that are typically the norm for most people. So I saw his bride coming down the isle. I knew that he would never be without a family again. He would always belong to someone.
And then i understood a little bit better about the analogy of the church being the bride. Marriage is something that creates a bond. We are bonded together in Christ. We will always belong.
~~DD

Greetings! Welcome to David's Blog. You may or may not be excited about this but I sure am.