Reunion

A couple weeks ago, Jennifer had her 10 year reunion with her medical school class. We were able to get away for the weekend to go visit some old friends of her's and catch up with what everyone had been up to.

This weekend, we're flying up to Chicago for my 20 year high school reunion. Now, as most of you may know, I technically didn't graduate with my friends from Illinois (that happened here in Arkansas due to my dad relocating us my senior year...that'll be another blog) but I had been with them since the 5th grade. So, being as gracious as they are, they still extended an invite to me to come up for the party.

To be honest, I'm real excited to see a lot of my best friends this weekend but I'm also a little nervous. About what I'm not 100% certain but I think there's always a bit of trepidation when it comes to seeing old friends, old girlfriends, revisiting old memories, etc. However, a couple of great things happened to me during Jennifer's med school reunion that have helped my anxiousness dwindle considerably.

1. Everyone after 20 years:
a) has gotten heavier
b) lost some of their hair
c) gained a bunch of wrinkles
d) all the above.

For me, I've lost a lot of weight in the past couple of months and my hair is not as "thin" as it has been in the past so I'm not too worried about that. As far as wrinkles go, sure...I've got a few but that has never bothered me too much.

2. My "job". A lot of you know that I'm a stay-at-home dad and for a lot of men I know, there is no way they can ever comprehend doing this as their main occupation. That's fine. What has helped to inspire me a bit is that everyone I talked to at Jennifer's reunion, both male and female, were blown away and encouraging that I'd chosen to do this for our family. I can't begin to count the number of people who said they envied me and wished they could do the same thing & be home with their kids.

I have really begun to realize that God has blessed our family extraordinarily and maybe I should start giving Him more praise (and credit) for doing this instead of worrying about not having a 9-5 job. I did that for almost 17 years in radio so I think it's fair to say I've had a decent amount of "work time" under my belt. Plus, realizing what it takes to be a manager and/or DJ at a radio station, I don't want that kind of life to interfere with my time with our family.

Or, especially, with my Lord.

While we've had plenty of reunions to attend this month, there is one other that has really blessed me.

It's the reunion I've had with Christ.

For a number of weeks during the summer and even into the fall, I'd felt like I was out on some sort of spiritual desert. I was looking for a drink of Holy Spirit water to quench my thirst and help ignite the fire within me so that I could focus on serving Him instead of myself.

But it never seemed to happen.

I prayed and read the Bible and tried to keep His scriptures in my mind during the days but it never seemed to break through the drought I'd been feeling.

However, I am a firm believer in God's appointed timing and His plan for me and when I least expected it, there it was.

A spark deep within my spirit that began to be rekindled. A spark that became a few hundred sparks that began to smolder and catch and a small fire started. That fire began to grow and the distractions I'd had in my sight earlier began to burn away, allowing me to finally see how I'd erred and I could now see Christ before me, not behind me, lost in the daily distractions of my life.

I realized that with my workout schedule and running the kids here and there at night that I'd taken the priority of worshipping my Lord and placed it back in the "things to do" list. That never needs to happen in my life.

Praising Him needs to be something that isn't to "be done". It's something that needs to "be". It needs to "be constant" and "be consistent". I need to focus more on remaining in Him than how many miles I'm going to jog today. I need to focus on worshiping Him with my life than picking up the groceries before 3pm. I need to continually offer Him a sacrifice of praise from my lips rather than schedule yet another lunch or round of golf.

I need to remain in Him at all times. Keep Him at the forefront of all my thoughts. Remove any obstacles in my life that not only make me "negative" but also remind me of how awful I am.

Praise the Lord His word reminds us in Romans that "no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus because the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." (Romans 8:1 HCSB)

Because I belong to Him, I no longer have to worry about the past and my sins. His blood has washed me and cleansed me of all those sins and the Bible says Jesus has taken those sins and cast them away from me, as far as the east is from the west.

Jesus has also taken the certificate of debt that was against me and has nailed it once and for all to the cross, erasing it and any obligation that was opposed to us. (Colossians 2:14)

Therefore, since I know this to be true, I can do as the Bible says and set my mind on what is above, not on what is here on earth. Sure, there will still be times that I get down and discouraged. That's going to happen to all of us. But if I can just keep in mind that these times of testing or even refinement are all being done for my good, I know that God will honor His promises to us all and bring us out of the fire unharmed and refined for His purposes.

What an incredible time to be reunited with the Lord!! I thank Him for His faithfulness, grace and mercy on my life and I pray that today you will also feel His love wherever you may be.

Have a great day in Him!