Friday Thoughts

We are committed to living our last weeks in Misawa intentionally. I worked on a few more house things in the a.m.

Arielle and I went to Mandy's at 1230. Arielle plays with Reba and watches Samson sleep....Mandy and I enjoy the onsen. These life-enhancing visits have been a joy. We may be able to fit one more in before Mandy's plane day.

Eventually I ended up with a few quiet hours at the chapel while Michael worked on sermon prep for Sunday. The sanctuary of an empty church is a great place for silence.  "Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted in the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps 46:10.   God spoke, God comforted, God reminded...and I cried, I sang, I prayed, I listened, I remembered. Mostly I simply sat in silence.  As I sat in the sanctuary (in Ruthie and Scott's old pew) faces of beloved people paraded through

via Google images

my heart...and I prayed and thanked God. This has been an incredible four years of growth in ministry, leadership and our personal lives. We've walked through some tough things here...but we've had very few truly negative experiences.   We've danced with God...He's led, we've followed...not always perfectly...but focused...and He's led, He's sustained, He's comforted, He's grown us.

I've been spending a lot of time with Elijah in the past month. There's a LOT there about the value of silence and solitude, about burned out leaders, about God's restoration....and last night I saw in 2 Kings 1 Elijah, once again, years later, calling down fire from heaven....but those thoughts are for another blog post.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Day Full of Friends - Truly a Blessed Day

This funny sight greeted us as we headed for the door this a.m. 

This was an 0530 start out the door; I do love the early morning workouts at the gym. The gym doesn't work well during the school year - but it's great now. 

I spent an hour going through the freezer and pantry making lists of the food we have on hand. Tomorrow I hope to make a meal plan for the next four weeks...and donate food we don't think we'll realistically use. 

Tis the season of "See you laters" in military circles. Today a dear family stopped by so we could spend one last time visiting before they fly out Saturday.  I love the gift they brought! It's perfect. Years ago some Misawa Air Base Chapel hymnals were discarded and eventually found their way to their home. Mary made this lovely angel from the hymnal - PERFECT...says Misawa, says chapel, says Mary....we love it! Thank you, my friend.  Mary also brought their crock pot over - she purchased it at the thrift store and I'll return it there when we move...full circle. 

All the kids...and Christina's too

It was a sunny day and today was the last day our "mentor group" would meet....it was just Christina and I as Hannah has pcsd and Lacey is stateside. We enjoyed our discussion about being a disciple of Christ and how to practically make disciples of Christ. We read Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. by David Platt....highly recommended. His chapters on the Will of God and the Beauty of a Local Church were out of the park. It's a book which convicts and challenges... then you realize you want MORE than conviction and challenge - you want to walk it out. We talked about how to practically apply the message.  We  agreed we need to have at least one Skype Mentor Group in August or September to check in with each other. 

Another friend, Marvie/and family, stopped by. They fly out on Monday.  I don't like goodbyes. 

We ran to the base and delivered all this to the thrift store donation shed and picked Michael up from work. 

We arrived home at the same time Akikosan did and had a fun time sharing our Korean Adventure with her. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...