Last Tuesday, I had a day I’ve been meaning to blog about. It started with a 5:30am wake up so I could exercise and get some cardio done. I was going to work out on the elliptical machine and watch the rest of the Monday Night Football Cowboys-Bears game that I am too old to stay up late to watch.
As I got down to the bottom of the stairs, I was greeted with a present the dog had left behind…..or should I say from its behind. And that wasn’t all. Around the corner was another, and another further on, and another. The dog poops numbered 8 or 10 and it took me about 20 minutes to mark them, pick them up, and clean the tile floor. Aren’t I lucky it was on the tile floor. I like silver linings.
Obviously that hosed my cardio workout. I flipped on the football game so at least I had something to watch while I was cleaning up crap. However, the same thing was on TV. The Cowboys were playing like crap and I had to endure watching their pathetic loss.
My time in the basement was wasted, so I went upstairs to have breakfast. I was looking forward to my croissants turning around my day. One of my favourite breakfasts is two croissants with strawberry jam and a tall glass of milk to go along with my Bible devotion reading. My daughter K was up getting ready for her day and she asked me about all the activity in the basement this morning. I explained both “craps” – dog and football – and used it as a teachable moment. Rather than complain, I was determined to not let determine my mood or day. While it is not how I wanted to start my day, I explained that while things may happen to us, it is under our control how we respond. I then reminded her of the Bible verse (paraphrased here) to “Be joyful in all things” — which is actually 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Be joyful always”.
I then proceeded to fix my breakfast and sit down at the table with my devotions. I had it all arranged and proceeded with my prayers. As I said “Amen” and opened my eyes, I noticed spots on my croissants. These were the last two croissants and they both had mold on them. Ugh! I tossed them in the garbage and pathetically laughed wondering what was next but also trying to live out the example I had just told my daughter. “Be joyful always”.
I proceeded to make some oatmeal — probably a healthier alternative to my croissants. As I opened a new gallon of milk the safety seal on it broke and I had to use a knife to puncture the foil. Just one more thing — and by that time we were both chuckling.
My breakfast ready, I re-sat back up to the table and opened my Bible and devotional. It was from 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 which talks about warnings from Israel’s history – one of which was complaining or grumbling. K heard me say that and then excitedly said that the morning was a “God” moment. I had all these opportunities to complain or whine about how my day started but I was not. She thought the timing of my devotions was very neat, given all the hiccups from the morning.
I wasn’t as surprised as she was because I know God frequently shows up in times just like these. Not in the stained glass. Not in the quiet church. But in the challenges of our day and in the struggles — large or small.
My niece is learning how to play the trumpet. This week my sister lamented on Facebook that there should be a special place in heaven for parents of trumpet players. And while I can sympathize with her for about 3 1/2 seconds, my first thoughts were “Trumpet?? Trumpet??” (similar to the end of the commercial video below — “Playoffs?? Playoffs??”)
My response to her was:
“Trumpets?? Trumpets?? Is that all you got? Your nephew has been playing the drums for over a year and it’s just now getting to be tolerable. And I’m just thankful he didn’t choose the bagpipes.
Good friends of ours are planting a church in a small community near us and last week was their launch service. Consequently, we have been attending our large church on Saturday evenings and then following that up with Sunday worship with them.
Today was our second week of double duty worship and, as a family, we have been getting a lot out of it. This morning I was impacted by a pivotal quote from the sermon and had to share it here.
“Is your life a blank check for God?”
If your life is not a blank check, what is your limit? And what are you doing to constantly increase that limit?
Because, after all, God spared nothing to purchase you — He gave the blood of His only son, Jesus.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Posted by Dan on September 16, 2012 at 8:01 pm under Spiritual. Comments Off on Sermon quote…...
The cleverly done animated vignette below is a couple of years old but I had never seen it. The lessons it imparts are important for the potential shift in education — a shift that might already be happening seeing as we are educating a batch of kindergartners who will be graduating in 2025. And while a business and economic shift might already be underway…..well, let’s just admit it — it IS already underway….. the educational side of things hasn’t budged yet.
Where is that going to leave our kids?
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Posted by Dan on September 12, 2012 at 5:36 am under Links 'n Stuff. Comments Off on Paradigm shift for our education?…...
The picture I snapped last week on my return flight home from my Chicago hub to Louisville does not do the scene justice. We had taken off and were ascending just west of downtown Chicago. The large, almost-full moon bathed the golden night grid of Chicago with a similar color. Of course, the moon looked much larger in person and it awed me enough to deviate from the no electronics ban and quickly capture the moment.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Posted by Dan on September 10, 2012 at 2:28 pm under Sunrise/sunset. Comments Off on Gorgeous airplane view…...
The intent of this blog is to share the learnings of our family's transformation from the rat race of southern California to the countryside of Kentucky and encourage others who also would like to pursue the Slower Pace of their own lives.
