Lisa & I celebrated 22 years of marriage this weekend! We spent Saturday roaming around the little town of Greensboro, GA, browsing the local antique shops & outdoor produce markets. We had a wonderful day, just the two of us, mingling with the locals & sampling the local cuisine. Greensboro is a great little town, kind of a miniature of Madison, GA.
We left there, and headed north to Watkinsville, where we stopped at a Ducati motorcycle dealership. Lisa of course humored me, and relaxed in the car while I nosed around all the bikes. Ah, she's a wonderful woman...
We made our way north to Bethlehem, Ga, stopping in at another antique & specialty shop. Not really looking for anything in particular, as in Greensboro, just enjoying the day together. It felt like young love again, walking around these towns hand-in-hand, talking & laughing together. We finished the day on our front porch swing, with a pleasant breeze as the sun slowly set.
I can honestly say, my joy at being with her has not waned over the years, only grown. I love Lisa more today than when we started this journey together, and I hope to love her even more 22 years from now.

The other day, while driving back from Home Depot, I was struck by an amazing sunset. The sun was descending behind a large cloud, and casting color and light all over the sky. As I drove, it was in front of me, all the way home. I was listening to Switchfoot’s song, “This is Home”, and I prayed, “Father, thank You for the daily glimpses of Heaven You give me. This is one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. I long and ache for my true home that I’ve never seen. Thank You for the little glimpses from time to time. They take my breath away.”
Then He unmistakably spoke to me, “Trust Me, you won’t be disappointed. It will be beyond all you’ve ever dreamed or imagined.” Wow. My eyes filled with tears of wonder.
The sunset followed me all the way home even until I parked my truck. I got out, stood there a moment, drinking it in one last time. The moment ended, but one day it never will.

Sometimes, cutting grass around my house really gets on my nerves. We have about 2 acres of land, and mowing my yard is often spread across a couple of days. I don't try to mow it every weekend, only about every 2 weeks. As the summer wears on, it seems I'm cutting more weeds than grass! Grass is hard to grow, and weeds are hard to kill. Example- my yard has so many patches of crabgrass, that I can cut it one week, and a week-10 days later, while the rest of the surrounding grass is still short, long spindly stems are growing up through the crabgrass, already 2+ ft. long. I've got thorny vines popping up everywhere, and I gave up a long time ago on trying to pull them up or kill them- I just mow over them as well, along with every other weird weed that pops up. Feels like an "exercise in futility", battling back the elements, holding off the "creeping green" every year. A never-ending chore.

When I complain about it every week, I also remind myself, "A result of the fall." Biblically, its true, actually- "creation was subjected to futility" (Romans 8:20) as a result of Adam's & Eve's sin, and expulsion from the Garden. Adam was condemned to toil in the dirt all the days of his life, struggling against "thorns and thistles", by the sweat of his brow (Genesis 3:17-19). Boy, I can identify some days...

I look forward to the day creation is redeemed and restored- "the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). That means perfection again, beauty fully restored, creation once again our ally, not our adversary.

And no more cutting "my weeds."

I'm resting & reflecting on this past week of Vacation Bible Camp. Today has been a long day, at the end of a long weekend, at the end of a long week, at the end of a long month! Yesterday alone, I worked 17+ hours getting ready for Sunday. I'm exhausted, but its a "good tired", having spent myself on an event that reached literally thousands of kids & families with the Gospel of Christ. We've been preparing for this week since last fall, and its been worth every bit of effort and energy we invested.
We had planned this event different than any event we have ever pulled off before. Our goal was to try and reach a higher percentage of unchurched people in our community than we ever had before, so we did some dramatically different things this year. We moved VBC to the end of the summer, right before school resumes, to be able to promote our fall programming, which all begins next week. And we moved it to a mid-week and weekend event, running from Wed. through Sunday, to try and get unchurched on our campus across a weekend, and introduce them to Hebron on a Sunday, with our VBC Family Celebration this morning.
In every way, VBC this year met or exceeded our expectations. We had hoped for at least 1000 in attendance every day, and we averaged over 1450 Wed. through Friday. We weren't sure what Sat. would hold, and we hoped to keep it above 1000, and 1301 came back! Having never done a VBC Family Celebration on a Sunday morning, in our huge church gym, we really had no idea how it would go, and how many would return for it, beyond our own people. People began showing up at 8:20am, and kept coming in until almost 10:30am! The place was packed- the bleachers were full, 600+ chairs on the floor were full... there had to be well over 1200 kids & families in attendance. It was an amazing morning, at the end of an amazing week.
This evening, after some much-needed rest this afternoon, I took a much-needed motorcycle ride. The sunset was beautiful, the air cool, the roads deserted. I thanked God for these peaceful moments out in the creation, and I thanked Him for entrusting us with so many kids & families during VBC, and helping it be so successful. Ultimately, it was all about Him anyway, from start to finish.
Some people get to my age and find that success, wealth, position, etc., no longer satisfy, and begin to look for work and causes they can invest in, to feel they are making a difference in the world, and not just living for themselves. I've never had that problem. Though I'll never make the "big bucks", never be famous, never find myself on a "Fortune 500" list- I'm making a difference in children's lives, and their families. God has graciously chosen to use me to help reach a generation for Christ, and ground them in the Word of God and in a daily walk with Him. I would not trade my life for anyone else's. VBC again reminded me- I'm right where I'm supposed to be, doing what I was meant to do. And that is very satisfying to me.