Thoughts and Friends

I'm hot. I'm tired. I just got done with my 30 minutes of exercise. I'll perk up in a few minutes but for now, I'm not going back to painting Tye's ceiling without a little break. So here I am.

I mentioned that last week Tuesday we had some friends over for supper. To be exact, it was our friend Joni, and our friend and pastor, Mike. Before you get any ideas, they're just friends. We just decided, innocently, to have them over at the same time. The thought never crossed my mind. (smile)

Aside from the fact that Jaden puked all over the table (thankfully, when we were all done eating). It was a perfectly wonderful evening. Fun, with lots of conversation.

Joni is headed back to Liberia this week. Photography and missions are her passions and in this next trip, slated to be a year long, she gets to do both. You can read about her last year and the days to come at her website HERE. Her faith and her willingness to go when God says, "Go," are an inspiration to our family.

Listening to just a few stories of Joni's makes me pause and think. As it very well should. One thing she struggles with when she comes home is our excess in the United States. And our need for newer and better. Albeit Joni would explain it much better, but we already have so much. Why do we "need" more when others have so little? Myself included?

One of Mike's favorite questions is,

"Where do you see the Church five years from now?"

A bit hypothetical and of course there's no concrete answer. Besides the fact that I can't really tell you were I see myself next week!

My hesitant answer was that I hope that we will pull together (unified) to reach out to those that need us (not my exact wording, Mike if you're reading this, but what I was getting at ). I also hoped that this recession--while I can't imagine losing our house or Brandy losing his job, and I feel greatly for those who are going through it--I hope that it will pull us together, with Christ as the focus. Does that make sense?

While I still hope the above, should Mike ask me that question today, I would say,

"Five years from now the Church will be in God's hands, as it is today. That's as much as I know, and I'm abiding in that."

Thanks for coming over Mike and Joni! Brandy and I and the kids really enjoyed your company. I don't know where the church will be in 5 years, or where we'll be in a year, but I hope we can do it again next year (and Mike, we're willing to put up with you without
Joni during that time frame, too!!).

Well, back to that ceiling I go!