That was my week. I was up late working on numerous projects and getting less sleep each night it seemed. my body was tired and my mind was numb. I had been putting in extra hours at both of my jobs. There are days when it just doesn't seem worth it and I was having a couple of those in a row. I was behind quite a few paychecks at the one. Thankfully my wife has done an amazing job at juggling our bills and somehow kept everything up to date.
Something that hadn't happened in a while happened that weekend. My wife and I were able to go out on a date. Our son was invited to stay the night with some friends and the mother-in-law took our daughter shopping. We finally got to go out. We enjoyed every minute of it. It was a gift card date. Used gift cards for dinner and then used gift cards to see a movie. It was perfect. We laughed and joked the night away. We acted like teenagers going out by themselves for the first time.
We even got to go to the beach by ourselves on Saturday. I taught Laura how to catch fish. Really, barehanded. Ask her. She didn't even have to make mud pies that day. We caught crabs, the crustacean kind. The only drawback to the beach was we both got a little burnt. No big deal, we have shed and back to normal already. Then we were able to find "The Chattaway" for lunch. It is a little hole in the wall burger joint. I loved this place. I ate there for an emergent church conference I attended in 09. Somehow we found it and enjoyed a great meal.
Then it was back to reality, fun was over and back to the real world. I honestly was feeling a little, okay, a lot, beat up. I felt like a cage fighter in a handicap match. Don't get me wrong there were plenty of "good" things going on. We had 10 visitors in our youth gathering. Yes 10! It just seemed the bad was so bad in over shadowed everything else. Then I began to remember to focus on the things that matter. Love God, Love people. I had someone who was visiting tell me they wish their youth group was like ours. I had someone else tell me they wish their youth pastor cared as much about them as an individual. There was also an email sent about how much people loved our group. I am not saying any of this to receive thanks, or glory. I am saying all this to say one thing. Through life's crap God's love is still visible. Christ came to give us a more abundant life. Not an easy life with more stuff. Those people who shared in my life this week, Thank you for helping me see the abundance of life!
Ready for round two.
