A Life of Gratitude

This evening our family played putt-putt at the request of our nine year old. We had a really nice time even though it was 90 degrees outside. This is the first time we've played that Allison really understood the game. She didn't want any help and played every single hole. I had so much fun watching her. She diligently took several strokes at each hole, never getting frustrated or aggravated. And when she finally got the ball in the hole, she would yell, "YES!" Then she would squeal out a big, "wahoooo!"  Hole 13 was exceptionally difficult which required Allison to take several more strokes than normal. I thought surely she would get irritated with it taking so long but once she got the ball in, she yelled, "YES! That was the best hole yet!" Then she squealed her signature squeal.  At times she made the course more difficult than it needed to be by standing on top of the barricades and trying to putt from there. As I watched her do this, my face ...

  In case you don’t remember me, let me refresh your memory. This afternoon you drove up next to my son and me and stopped your car. With a hateful tone and a sour look on your face, you said, “It’s pathetic that you would indoctrinate your son with this s#*t.”  Then you looked at my son and told him not to listen to his mother.  You said, “She doesn’t know what the f^@k she’s talking about.”  Then, without allowing me even a moment to respond, you sped off with your arm sticking out of the car, flipping us off with your middle finger. Apparently, you didn’t like me watching you drive away so you stopped your car and yelled as loud as could, “Stop f^@king staring me, you nasty B*&@#.” I won’t pretend to know you or why you would treat a total stranger so poorly, but you also shouldn’t assume you know me. Yes, I was standing outside of a Planned Parenthood on abortion day. Yes, my teenage son was standing with me. Yes, we are pro-life. But you have no idea what ...

The past several weeks I've been going to a Bible study at a friend's house. As I've traveled to her home each week, I've noticed this random street sign. It is placed near the edge of a large piece of land. There are no roads going through that land. There are also no roads across the highway either. There's just grass, bushes, and gravel around this sign.  Interesting, huh? A street sign in an area that has no roads.  I am perplexed by this sign every time I see it. I always wonder why the sign is there. The first few times I drove by, I didn't even notice the word on the sign. After a couple of trips back and forth, I realized it said, "Worship." Of course, I began wondering what I could learn from that fascinating sign. During one of my trips to and from Bible study, God revealed something that spoke to my heart. Just as the "worship" sign stands tall right in the middle of the grassy, gravely area with no roads, where it looks out of pla...