The best part of waking up....

Rolling out of bed. What i do when my feet hit the floor is often the most important decision i make. Bible reading and prayer set to the tone for my day every time. Wake up and read and listen and pray and it sets my mind and heart on the right course. Opens my ears to the most important voice in my life. Opens my heart to the only source of my life. Thhe only quiet time is first thing in the morning. How i dread when i dont take advantage of it.

Our life is so full right now that it is easy to limit my thoughts to the mortgage, the number of miles on the mini-van and birthday parties. In this season of life days can be swallowed up by my sons stuffy nose and midnight visits to our bedroom. Peyton is in karate and just her best results on a standardized test at school. Jenna called me yesterday and needed $20 for something going on in 6th grade band. Stephanie has started to work afternoons at a wonderful daycare in order to help our stuffy nosed Caleb attend a couple days a week.

It is easy to find my whole existence rotating around the gravity of my family life. And like anyone else i find that my calling in ministry also has a serious degree of "pull". I am ambitious and energetic and love to work, preach, lead and grow the organization I am so blessed to be a part of.

The scripture reminded me today "But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Romans 13:11 (The Message)

Thankfully the Lord has reminded me of what matters the most today. My dear friend and neighbor across the cul-de-sac is fighting for his life as i write this. I have been able to spend a number of hours bed-side the last few days with my friend Tracy. We have prayed and cried and read scripture. I watched as his 8 year old son climbed into Tracy's sick bed as he struggled to wrap trembling weak arms around his boy. I cried hard. We all did. And I prayed out loud prayers of thanks and praise and healing.

I came home this morning after my visit with Tracy and rolled around on the floor with my son. I hugged him a little more and took the time to enjoy the smell of his baby-shampoo hair.

Now i am preparing to speak tonight to a room full of energetic teenagers. I want to be up and awake to what God is doing. I want my life to matter. This brief time I have on earth will matter as i am about my fathers business. By the grace of God I will be the husband and dad and pastor that he wants me to be. Becasue of Christ I am making a big differnce in the lives around me!

Father, help me to be up and about your business every single day and to work while it is day. Thank you for the opportunity to walk through these trials with our neighbors. May they all know you and see you through us. I trust the one in heaven with the issues of life and family and work. Let me be the diligent servant that you can trust to do your work on earth. Amen