Hope for Tomorrow...

"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you."
-Jeremiah 29:11

"These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."
-2 Corinthians 4:17-18


"Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it."
-2 Corinthians 1:7

A Moment of Truth

It's simply amazing to me that we have to create and air another reality television game show that motivates a person to tell the truth based on the money they will be receiving for it. It is crazy to me to sit and watch as a person steps up to a chair and be "challenged" by the idea that they will have to confess deep secrets on national television. It also blows me away that we have to be motivated by money and/or the idea of being on television to get a person to tell the truth. It has come to the point where we have to reward a person for being authentic.

I don't think it could get any worse than that.

Authenticity is becoming more and more rare in our culture today, which is also why I think it is one of the most important characteristics for a person to develop ... children, teens, and adults alike.

Just a few thoughts for the day.

Motionless

Last night we experienced a very strange, yet wonderful winter thunderstorm. It's rare to get rain this time of year, but it was extremely warm yesterday and a thunderstorm rolled in through Eldersburg last night as soon as ALG came to an end. As most people left, Andy, Katie, Lauren Miles, and myself turned off the lights and sat in the Thompson's living room with the door open, watching the thunderstorm roll through. It was wonderful. I love watching, listening, and smelling thunderstorms quickly come and go. I wrote something last summer when sitting in my room intensily watching a thunderstorm, and I felt the same way again last night. I thought I would share it.


It’s so peaceful to watch the rain fall from the sky above. Gently hitting the trees and the newly wet paved road. The sound is not quite anything I’ve heard before; so soft yet loud enough to hear over the thunders mighty roar. It smells just like summer, the way its always smelled when it rains on days like today. As soon as the storm moves through, the wind feels so perfect. Makes me want to stand out there in the pouring rain. Soaking it all in—breathing deep. The thunder becomes real distant and soon all I’ll be able to hear is that light tapping of the raindrops against each landing. Everything’s so still; so quiet. Listening to it all ensures a peace deep inside me. It’s as though, for just a moment, things have become still. My life, my world, my heart, and even my mind have all come to a momentary halt. Things are silent again. I like them this way. The stillness has buried all the confusion, it has calmed all the struggles, lessened all the hurt, cleared all the distractions and finally focused my heart. The rain has wiped my eyes of everything and focused on one thing…the beauty of it all. So calm. So quiet. So revealing. The smell has rescued me from the ungodly things and reminded me of how refreshing it is. The flashes of light and drops of rain allow me to see something more than what appears to be there. The wet droplets against my skin and the wind blowing over my face bring me back to that feeling that is deeper than anything. And most of all, that sound of the distant rolling thunder and soft tapping of rain on everything it touches, tells me what it is I really need to listen for in a world full of echoes. I will never forget this smell thunderstorms bring. I will always remember the sight of bright flashes and clear droplets. This feeling, of the rain against my skin, will never leave me. And even when all else fades, I will keep hearing the loud roar and soft whispers of the rain in my ear. It will always be there, I just need to be still and listen.