The picture at the top of my blog is of me and my two dauhters at the beach a year or so ago!  My wife was joking with someone that I had not used a picture of her and had never even written anything about her on my blog!  I certainly don’t want her to ever feel left out or neglected, so I wanted to take a few moments to share a few things about my JOY!  God blessed me with more than just a wife, He blessed me with a friend.  Joy knows more about me that any other human being that I know!  I trust her with my life – every part of it!

We love to joke around with each other and we both joke in very different ways – some people just don’t get this, but we do and that is all that really matters!  I love to make her laugh!  Her smile means more to me than any words could express.  (She really has an amazing smile!)  The truth is:  We just work and we do it without a lot of drama.  She is a more loving daughter than either of her parents or their spouses know!  She is an amazing mom, who would and sometimes does truly give of her life for her daughters!  She is the best minister’s wife that I know.  She works hard in the church and for the church and stays out of the junk that often other people will try to pull her into!  Northwood is very fortunate to have her as it’s First Lady!

One of my favorite memories of her from just this week was sneaking in and watching her sing and dance with a whole bunch of 2& 3 year olds in our nursery at church.  She was leading them in all of these crazy face making, arm waving and body shaking motions!  The kids were having a blast and she was too!  She was not just watching them, until their parents came back to get them – she was making their exprience at church a very special and fun thing!  I walked out of the room thinking how blessed we all are, that she is in our lives. 

I could go on and on, but anyone that knows me, knows that I am not one for mush, unless it’s fun!  And I don’t want some of you male readers accusing me of losing “man points”!  So, I’ll just close by saying that I am very thankful to God for providing me with a lady that understands me, accepts me and encourages me!  And Joy, I am thankful to you for everything – thanks for making my life great and my journey fun!  I Love You!

What a great day we had at both campuses yesterday!  God blessed with a beautiful day and everyone seemed to be excited and happy about being at church!  I really enjoyed sharing the message on SABBATH and believe that this is a very important message for so many of us!  God gives us six days to go all out for Him, and during these six days we need to give God, our employer, family and friends our absolute very best!  Then on that seventh day we need to take some time to really rest.

You know that you are really resting when you are able to reflect and re-energize!  God not only wants you to take and make a day of rest – He commands it!  So take some time to prove your trust of God by taking Him up on a day of rest.  Just a few things to keep in mind about your sabbath!  The day is not the big issue – taking the day is!  What you do is not that big of a deal, as long as it works for you and is pleasing to God!

So make sure that you pick a day – remember six days of work for seven days of provision!  Make a plan for that day – what you will do and what you will not do.  If you don’t protect it, you will lose it.  Try to answer the question:  What is it that will allow me to rest, reflect and re-energize?

Experiment with your SABBATH!  Just give it a try for thirty days!  Four days of SABBATH a month could change your life!  I pray that God will give you some sweet rest and success this week!

There are some things that I love to do and there are some things that I can’t stand to do.  Occasionaly in my life, I have had no other choice, but to do some of those things that I don’t really care to do!  In almost every situation – it required that I step out of my comfort zone = the major reason why I did not want to do it!  But in everyone of those situations, when I stepped out of my comfort zone and did the thing that I dreaded, I was glad that I did, after the fact!

I am trying to remind myself of this truth now a days.  It seems that as we get older, we get more stuck in our ways and less willing to move out of our comfort zone.  The sad reality is that when we refuse to move, we often miss blessings!  You may have a way that you like it, but think about this:  Would you move out of the way that you like it, what’s comfortable for you – if it means that you would experience something extraordinary?  Just think of how many extraordinary blessings we miss because we are unwilling to move.

Let’s all look for some opportunities to step out of our comfort zones!  Let’s seize those opportunities and see what God has in store for us!