Moms and Stuff.

I am in my favorite local coffee shop this morning. It is Sunday, Mother's day. Colleen has gone with friends to St. Louis to enjoy a play, Brandon and Micah are both back from college, Carden had Prom last night and Shane was in Chicago for soccer yesterday. I am sure they are still sound asleep and it is nice to have them all back under one roof. Brandon will leave this week for an intership in Quincy, Illinois and Micah will be here this summer working for a veterinarian. I still can't believe I have two in college, much less one beginning his senior year. God blessed me with wonderful kids and I will never take that for granted again.
I have been training for a new job the past two weeks. Training has taken me out of town and I will be gone again for another week. It is a career change that I am very thankful to have the opportunity to do, and I feel great about the company. I believe what they stand for is excellent and how they do business is exceptional. I am surrounded by some wonderful people and I am being challenged on every level. I believe this career will help me become a better person and will be one in which I can still be involved in helping people. Some of you out there who will be reading this blog have already helped and encouraged me, and I am deeply grateful and thankful for your friendship.

There are times I feel very sad that this is a career change. It means the end of ministry as a vocation for me. It is ironic in a way, now that I feel so passionate about Jesus and his gospel on such a personal, heart level I feel more compelled to talk about him than ever before. I think I finally know him in a way that I never have before and I just feel so comfortable telling people about his grace. And I know that this is the way it is to be. I am thankful, after the last year to have a job and a family, that healing continues, that God still performs miracles and that his love reaches so far and deep and wide and that he will take care of all things in his way. Now I want to learn how to be a tentmaker and bless other people in the course of making a living. Most of you are way ahead of me here, so any advice is welcome.

Today is Mother's day. My Mom prayed that I would be a preacher, (is still praying for that!). I am thankful for her and her influence in my life, for the faith she shares with my Father. I still love walking out on their front porch and seeing them sitting there with their old King James Bibles open reading their daily Bible readings. We differ on a lot of issues but I honor their love for God and his Word. The first Scripture I memorized as a young boy was taught me by Mom, 2 Timothy 2:15, and it still comes to memory in the KJV.

My children have been blessed also with a wonderful Mother. Colleen has held our family together through all the storms and is still the one who always completely listens to everything that is going on in their lives. She is why we are a family today and has always sacrificed for her children. She has also taught them about following Jesus in real ways and real life instead of some of the mumbo-jumbo theoretical ways of her husband. They are good kids because of their Mom, and I love and appreciate her more than ever for that.

So to all you Moms out there who weary yourselves for the sake of your kids...who are way underpaid for doing the most important work on earth....who through your own pain deliver precious life to this world...Thank you.