K-Mart Smart!

Yesterday turned out to be a relatively fun day.  My wife and I were able to get out of the house early… well, early for us that is, somewhere around noon, and run some errands concluding with a trip out to K-Mart and the purchase of new ornaments for our Christmas tree.  With the things that my wife is dealing with, we never really know what the new day will bring until it unfolds.  

I was thinking about this a few days ago as I reviewed our schedule of events as they occurred last Sunday.  I was always adamant to our Children’s Church volunteer team about the need to be at church doing your final preparations for the day’s class at least one hour before the children start arriving.  Up until our departure to Oklahoma a few years back, I was always one of the first to arrive at church on Sunday mornings and usually the last to leave.  When we returned to California we were dealing with the changing conditions of my wife’s health and everything else tended to take a back seat.  Most times now, we barely get to church and our class some 20 to 30 minutes before it’s time to start.

I have to admit that this frustrates me to no end.  But at this point it is something that I HAVE to trust the Lord for.  I am very thankful that our senior pastors are very sensitive of our circumstances and back us 100%.  It seems like I get up earlier and earlier on Sunday mornings and still leave the house at the same time.  It’s almost kind of comical in that the strangest things will happen as we prepare to get to church.  Like I mentioned above, I never know what my wife is going to do or not do until the new day unfolds.

Over the last couple of years the Lord has given me a lot more patience and peace that has helped me immensely thorough our morning prep times.  There still are times though, when I am totally frustrated, exhausted and shaking my head as we get out the door (which in itself can be quite a trick some days!).  The special reward for all the effort comes as the anointing to teach the class always appears the moment the class begins!  In fact, one of our student helpers walked up to me after class the other morning, looked at me with a mischievous smile and said, “You must have a lot of patience!”  With that I burst into laughter and said “Yes I do,” as I mentally reviewed all that it took to just get to class that day as well as to teach the rambunctious group in attendance that morning!

But anyway, back to yesterday.  Everything just sort of clicked.  Even going out to K-mart was a blessing as the older casher who was noticeably quiet and business-like with the line of customers in front of us, bent over backwards to smile and converse with my wife.  In fact, both the customers in front and in back of us made a point to reach out to us.  It is days like this that really cause one to be full of praise and thanksgiving to God.  It is days like this that really cause us to focus on His goodness as well as on His faithfulness.

I am thankful for everyday, but especially thankful for one’s like yesterday where you can visibly “see the goodness of the Lord in this world of the living.”  (Psalm 27:13 Gods Word ©)  I pray that your day will be like one of those for you today.  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What Good Things am I expecting today?”