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Charlie is enjoying his big boy underpants, but likes to try out yoga positions while using his potty. I won't go into detail, but let's just say the carpet cleaner is earning its keep. One morning he peed 15 times in two hours!! Today, he left a nice little puddle in the dollar store. Nothing like cleaning up your son's urine in the middle of a busy aisle.
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Earlier in the week, Angela and I hit up the River Rock Casino for our anniversary. It has a nice hotel and sweet breakfast buffet. Since we'd never been in a casino before we did a walk through and found it thoroughly depressing. Nothing like seeing hundreds of people, most in isolation, throwing away their time and money. At the same time, what a great opportunity for ministry! I'd bet 90% of the people in there are dying to share their life and struggle with someone who is simply willing to listen and be a friend.
Since it was our anniversary we spent our time sharing in each others likes. I endured fabric and sewing shops. Angela endured the Regent College Bookstore. I finally got to try the Red Wagon (on Hastings). Had the pulled-pork pancakes and it was delicious.
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On top of that, Angela and I had two "silly" desires/prayers answered. While out on our anniversary, Angela wanted to buy an ice cream maker, but it wasn't in the budget. A couple days later a friend from Church said to Angela, "I have a brand new ice cream maker from our wedding that we've never opened and I'll never use it... you want it?" The next night I was eating homemade strawberry ice cream!
The other desire had to do with a trailer and a truck. A couple months ago I really wanted to buy a trailer to haul all my projects and junk around for the home and Church. I started looking around at stores and on Craigslist, but wasn't able to find any good deals that worked with the budget. I put that desire on the back burner and then figured it would be better to save for a truck that could fit the kids. Earlier this week I got a facebook message from a friend who wrote, "I have a truck that's been sitting unused for the last year, if you want it, I'll give it to you!" We looked at it yesterday and it will fit the kids and my needs perfectly.
I don't write these things from the perspective that God is a genie who grants us our every wish. I live life with the understanding that God 'gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too'. I also live life with the understanding that 'whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above', I have to praise him for these two gifts... an ice cream maker and a truck. There are more times than not that I've had desires go unmet or even thought that I was entitled to certain gifts, but never received. And so, I choose to live life in a place of trusting and praising God no matter what comes my way.
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In a much more serious area, we experienced unmet desires as well. Our friends, Renee and Josh (they gave me permission to write this), lost their baby. Renee was 16 weeks along when she began to detect signs that something wasn't right. After having doctors try to intervene and spending much time in desperate prayer, the baby died. Through a series of conversations with God while all this was going on, God told Renee that her baby was a boy and that she was to name him Solomon. Solomon wasn't her first choice for a name and didn't think that the baby would be a boy, but she let it play out.
So she looked up the name Solomon and found the meaning of this time to be comforting. She discovered that the name, Solomon, comes from the root (shalem) meaning to be complete or sound. Upon further study she observed that a derivative of shalem is shalom, which means peace.
On Sunday evening, when she gave birth to him, she could not stop thinking how perfect and complete he was. She said, "My time in the hospital was not a time of sadness (I was sad, don't get me wrong), but a time of soaking in the peace that only the One who made us can offer."
We rarely understand, on this side of eternity, how and why God allows painful things to happen. I don't have an answer that will perfectly satisfy you. I don't know why in some situations God does the miraculous and in others, what appears to be, nothing. There are pieces that answer parts of our questions, but not enough to make a complete picture. At the end of the day, our response to God is still one that requires faith. Faith to see what our flesh can't.
Like a plant that is forced to grow deeper roots during times of drought, tough times cause our faith to grow deeper. We also know that, with God, there is always a Spring and Summer season ahead!
Can I ask you, as Church family, to pray for Josh & Renee? They don't need a theological lecture, passive-aggressive faith correction, or medical advice. They need your love and support.
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On Friday night, Angela and I joined with ten others from our Church family and we participated in the "Relay for Life". It's a fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society. When I first signed up I assumed it was during the day and then later found out that it went through the night (7pm - 7am). I was dreading it to say the least. Angela's parents watched the kids and we spent the night walking and hanging out the good folks on our team. At one point, Angela and I stole away and slept in the car for a few hours. Never comfortable, but better than staying awake... I think. We woke up to rain, a pancake breakfast, and an MC that could not be stopped. In hindsight it was actually a lot of fun (because of the people) and a good event.
We spent Saturday in a groggy state and went to bed early. I was super proud of Tony O. for helping host the "Swap for Lina" at our Church building on Saturday. He served from 8:30am - 4:00pm and did an amazing job getting the building ready for Sunday.
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I really enjoyed our gathering this morning. Tony and team lead us in beautiful praise. We played a funny video of our Parkside Kids answering the question, "why do you love your dad?" Our Elders ordained Dave Parsons. Isaac preached a challenging 17 minute sermon! His challenge to the Church was that going and making disciples should be a scary endeavour, but that God's got our back.
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I hope you have a great week filled with prayer and love. Get filled by God then go out and share His love.
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