Reality Bites

Well, if there is anyone out there that noticed that I have not written in a few days, it is because I took my family camping. We spent a couple days hiking and fishing at O'Haver Lake. If you've never been there, you have to go. It is absolutely beautiful! Dennis is a fishing maniac. He caught quite a few. We also learned that he doesn't really need toys, give him a couple dead trout and he can entertain himself (and us) for quite a while. Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend.

I have to admit, I did not read my Bible while I was up there. I had intended on spending some really indepth time in the word, but time just got away from me. I did pray quite a bit though. One night, as Karen, Dennis, Sarah and I lay in the tent and I was saying our nightly prayers, I thanked God for all of his blessings. Now, this is something I put in almost every prayer but that night, something different came to mind. I usually think of blessings as physical things such as my house, family, toys and so on. After putting the kids to bed and going back outside to sit by the fire, two deer walked through our camp. It was amazing to see such beautiful creatures just cruising by. I was in their world as a visitor. I started thinking that I truly am in this world as a visitor. God blesses us with these moments more often than we realize. Everyday I hear my kids laugh but I don't always remember what a blessing it is to hear them laugh. I don't get that with my oldest son because he lives in California with his mom. Every night I go to bed with my wife, but too often I just give her a kiss and say good night. I don't treasure these moments as blessings the way God intended.

When I got home I immediately took on the laborious task of cleaning up after a weekend of camping. After that I got cleaned up and found a bill that needed to be paid. I fell into the trap of forgetting all the blessings I have and began getting more and more upset with "my reality." There is always far more bills than money so I began to get short with my wife and kids. After all, isn't that the way to solve all of life's problems? Get mad at those around you because that can't fix things any easier than you can! I can be such an idiot.

Luckily, I decided to catch up on my Bible time. God always has a way to put me in my place. As I read Ephesians, I saw in chapter 2, verse 8, God told me "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and it is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

It does not matter how little money I have this month, because "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." God is not concerned with my money, he is concerned with my heart. God is not worried about if bank account if full, he wants my faith to be overflowing. My prayer should not be that my problems go away, my prayer should be that I have the faith to be a Godly husband and father through any trials. I want my wife to be impressed with the faith that I have in God. I want my son to look at me and want to be the Godly father that I modeled for him. Someday I want Sarah to look for a Godly husband because she saw that in her daddy and knows that's the way it should be.