O.K., this is not laziness, in fact quite the opposite. I want to ask you, my friends, readers and on line confidants, what is Courage? Please comment.
Courage is…?
More to come. Working on a rather big thought project, I need yours to work through the idea.
Some of you saw my previous post that my grand dad had a stroke, a bad one, one that was inoperable. He was not expected to survive more then a day or two. Well he did.
I spent the whole weekend with Grandpa and all I can say is WOW, God is good. He is walking, he has some slurred speech, and most his right arm usage is back. It is truly amazing and God is just awesome. I am feeling not as low as I was when I wrote a few days back (the post is gone, it was embarassing).
Thank you for praying. Continue to pray for complete healing and complete grace for him. I know he wants to get back to San Diego, he is in Denver for the time being.
I will write more soon I promise, just as soon as life slows down. So, expect my next post 1/1/2015 (lol)
The smallest things become great when God requires them of us;
they are small only in themselves; they are always great when they
are done for God, and when they serve to unite us with Him
eternally.
Recently inspired by Kirsten and her recent allusion to Russell Crowe in Gladiator, and the title of a blog I read called I am Sarah Grace I have decided that I need my own set of I am statements. I can not say I am Gladius Maximus, servant of the one true emperor… but I can say the things that my creator Father has given me, and what I am is a servant of the one true God. It is actually therapeutic in the right setting to do this once in awhile. I have actually had those I counsel with do this. However, I realized that I have never written one. So without further adieu, here is mine.
I am Carl Grace, son of the most high God. Overcome of the darkness and lover of the light. I am flawed at my very core, but I am redeemed by the shed atoning blood of Jesus Christ.
I am known by God even before my beginnings and I am treasured for all eternity. I am bought with a great price. I am treasured above and beyond all His creation. I am fearfully and wonderfully made and I am unique in all the world, I am created in my Fathers image.
I am gifted with great gifts from my Father, I am an apprentice to the king. I am the only one with my unique set of talents and abilities. I have full access to the throne room of God. I am His created.
I am joyful in my salvation, I am welcomed to the kings banquet table. I am treasured more then the most cherished Gold, I am the pearl bought with a great price.
I am Carl Grace, over-comer of obstacles, worker of miracles, lover of life and those who live in it. I am Carl Grace child of life and peace.
I am a reflection of the God that is in me. I am one with Him, as he is one with me.
I was tagged for this meme by the lovely and brilliant Kirsten. So here it goes, 6 things about me.
1) I hardly ever miss an episode of Jeopardy. I love the show. I know you are thinking that I must be cerebral and into all the knowledge, and that is part of it. But really, I just like the stimulation and I like rooting for the underdog. (as a side note I have tried out for Jeopardy 3 times now and I never got a good enough score to move forward.) Meanwhile, I keep collecting interesting things and stories so that when I do get on stage I do not bore people to death. I plan on taking down Ken Jennings record, so that means I need a lot of cool stories.
2) I will not attend a movie that has the primary intention of scaring the crud out of me or making me squirm for two hours. Watching IT by Steven King in the 8th grade made that decision for me. And does anyone remember the mini series turned movie called V? Yeah, that one did it for me as well.
3) When I am counseling a person I almost always bring the situation back to something I have seen in a Disney movie. I am not joking. I am a metaphorical thinker at my core and I relate very easily to situations that are on television. I do not watch much regular T.V. (except Jeopardy or Mythbusters) and so the other thing readily at my fingertips is Disney Movies. Having a 6 year old boy makes it easy to have them at your fingertips. The young man I have been counseling over the last few weeks asked me last week what Disney movie I had seen recently so he could be ready.
4) I lived under the same roof as my wife for a few months before we ever got married. It is a bit of a story, but just so you know it was NOT what you think. Basically I lived in the basement of a house of a newly widowed woman and her family. Amy needed a place to stay for awhile and stayed in a small room in the upstairs while she found an apartment. That is how we met, and it is an endless source of conversation with new friends and family.
5) I proposed to my wife at a Conoco station. Yep, so romantic. It was kind of funny, and stupid, and it stuck. It is a long story about how it came about. Lucky for me she said yes and we have had 9 trips around the sun together so far.
6) Golfing took on a whole new meaning for me a few years ago when I helped deliver twin baby girls on a golf course. I was a Paramedic for a short time (while I was dating Amy) and got a call to the 11th hole of a local golf course and a woman was with her husband and was just beginning to feel labor and expected she would have more time. Well, time ran short and out came two babies faster then you can say holy pickles and get the gloves on.
I now tag:
Laci If you read around her blog a little bit you will see the disorder I have in my brain. She is a bit ahead of me in the process, but I get to look forward to much of the same things she has going on.
The Nagel Family I went to India with John, am in love with his family, and they decided recently to become missionaries to Mexico. They are uber cool, and if you are looking for a missionary to support, this family is oh so very worthy.
The meme has pretty much knocked out the rest of the blogs I read already. I guess memes do have a shelf life, and this one might be getting a little stale. Who knows, but have fun! ~Selah~
I, like so many others, have driven up the the gas pump and pumped my car full of gas only to drive away with that sinking feeling in my gut. I do not like putting $60 of gas in my little 4 cylinder car. And I am prone to those gas pump blues. The pinch is being felt in my wallet, and my wallet has been pinched so much it is about to tender it’s resignation from my life, forever. I, being the eternal optimist, want to see the bright side to all of this. I think I have found something to be happy about, it is the return of community, of my community.
In today’s global economy where it is all about selling the most product at the best market price and to the most people and as much as possible the subtle nuances of life get missed terribly. Sure there are the obvious dehumanizing aspects of the business model, but so often we miss something all together, a sense of community. With the advent of Cars, of mass transportation, of newer and cheaper ways of going farther man has decided that not only can he, but he is required to live one place and then work far from home. No longer are you condemned to living in the suburbs by night, and the nearest industrial center by day. Now you can feel free to pursue the American dream in the burbs, and commute an hour or more each way every day in pursuit of that perfect job, that will pay for the perfect car, and perfect house that will eventually bring you the perfect wife and the perfect children… bleah…who needs this?
As summer sets in I can sit here and watch the neighbor kids playing until all hours of the evening. I have noticed that many of my neighbors are home more in the evening this summer. I have seen more neighborhood barbeques, I have seen more activity in my condominiums the I think I ever have in the 8 trips around the sun that I have lived here. I am exited to say I have been invited to my first community cook out in a few weeks, right here in my complex. It is cool.
Globalization is a wonderful thing. We need it. We need to understand other cultures, we need exposure to new ideas, new technology, new stimulation in order to not grow stagnant. But, one must take a measured approach to it. It is nice to sit here and cruise the Internet at speeds we only dreamed of in High School and find a website about just about everything I could ever think of, but do I really need it for 8 hours a day? Do I really need the television that has 180 high quality high definition channels on it? I am watching my son baking cookies right now with his mom and he is not even thinking of the television. He, is cultivating community with his mom and I. (I have the honorable position as chief taste tester)
Despite what the nay sayers and doomsday speakers will tell you, church attendance is at least stagnant if not rising a little bit. With gas prices being so high less people are driving the SUV to the lake, towing the expensive boat that takes the special gas that is almost 8 bucks a gallon. Instead they are staying closer to home. One center piece of the local economy is the church. One pastor I take much advise from is Eugene Peterson. His advise goes something like this “find the smallest local church as close to home as possible and attend there.” I love this advise, and recently we changed churches. It is not quite local I would say, but it beats traveling 20 miles to the mega church we attended before. I think this summer, and for summers to come, we are going to see people staying closer to home, and maybe, just maybe, going to church.
Another place to find community is at the farmers market. More people are going to local food markets to get better produce at lower prices. No longer is it the place for the hip “crunchy cons” to hang out and sell to one another. Instead it has become a living, breathing, and vital part of the local landscape. Any time a person opts to buy their apples and onions and other products from a local grown farmer they stimulate local economy. The food tastes better, it does not have high transportation costs, and it supports the farmer down the road. Money that stays home will come back to your wallet eventually.
Gas prices, I am afraid, are here to stay for awhile. A byproduct of globalization. As these economies like China, India, and Russia come on line it is only going to get tougher. It is funny how globalization has a consequence to it, the consequences of creating and increasing the local economic power of a community.
