James exhorts us, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials..." And so it has been for the past year or more in our lives. Struggles at work because of the difficult economy, financial challenges, five months of pain medication and then a serious surgery on my neck followed by two weeks of withdrawals from the pain meds, a blown motor in our Jeep, a blown ABS pump in our Suburban, a needed new set of tires for our Suburban, a ticket for running a red light ($491-ouch), a blown electronic brain in our Jeep, a needed new set of tires for our Jeep, broken out windows of our Suburban with Celeste's purse, my laptop and checkbook STOLEN, another electronic problem with our Jeep today (yes, I know - I should be driving a Nissan or a Toyota - DON'T START already!).
And its only August.
So how do we "consider it all joy?" Our friend Melanie Grochowski commented on our string of trials, "It's almost laughable, isn't it?" She's right. At some point, we have to just throw up our hands and ask for God's mercy. We're WAY past that point, BTW.
Right now, Celeste is at a meeting and Abby is at a pool party with friends, so I'm sitting here in the front yard, watching Terra and Mattea ride their bikes in the cul-de-sac and listening to Tori singing a song inside, the dog is barking in the back yard and I'm thinking - I've really got all I need. Actually, MUCH, MUCH more than I need...in them. Everyone is healthy, we're together, we're blessed with great friends and family and a loving, generous, forgiving and faithful Lord. What else could a guy ask for? In THAT I can truly find joy.
Trials? What trials? :)
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