Summer Blessings

With school beginning in just a few hours for my girls, summer break has officially come to a close.  As part of our family night this past Monday, we each shared highlights of our summer.  I thought I'd share some of my highlights here, but I'm going to share them in two sets - the "expected" highlights, and the "surprise" highlights of the summer of 2008.

Expected Highlights/Blessings

• Our trip to Topeka over the 4th
• Our trip to Indianola the first weekend of August
• Seeing K use her birthday as an opportunity to serve
• Officiating 4 weddings
• Celebrating T's 2nd birthday with lots and lots of balls
• Celebrating 14 years of marriage in June
• Swimming laps almost 3x per week
• Leadership Summit
• Some good family time

Surprise Highlights/Blessings

• The Flood of 2008 (because it allowed the Church to shine and serve this city like never before)
• LeAnn's broken leg (because it showed me I'm not as great of a servant as I thought I was - and gave LeAnn time to actually sit and read)
• Tsion's mysterious infection in July (because it forced us to rely on God)
• Officiating a funeral for a 5-month old (because I got to minister to his parents, who are also my friends, in a way I never would have otherwise)

In each of these surprise highlights, I think I would gladly give up the "blessing" so that others could have back their homes, legs, and children.  Yet I can't help but realize that even in the darkest of times, there are still linings of God's grace and blessing.  Romans 5:3-5 (which was just preached this past Sunday at church) encourages us to rejoice in sufferings, because of what they can lead to in the long run - endurance, character, and hope.

With this thought in mind, I'd like to close with a Franciscan blessing I've had hanging in my office for several years, and I heard shared at the Leadership Summit a few weeks ago.  It has a similar sentiment as my "surprise blessings" of this summer:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.