This was on the wall at the restaurant tonight:
Training Journal – 2/29/12:
Via: Today I Learned Something New
A little over a week ago, I linked a story about a man who has kept his arm raised for 38 years…check this out.
How far would you be willing to go if a person you trusted or put your faith in told you to do or not do something?
It’s cool how the small things cause you to remember stuff from your past – both good and, well, not-so-good.
In my new role as a foster father (not-soon-enough adoptive father!), the other day, Sam & I were cleaning up the side of the house and we were “team sweeping” the leaves and stuff – me sweeping, him using the dust pan. He was having a tough time getting all the stuff in the dust pan and I recalled how my dad taught me the “sweep, back up the pan, and repeat” process for getting all the stuff picked up. So, naturally, I imparted my well-honed “sweeping” knowledge to him…
Pretty cool – and not so painful. I’m sure, in the course of our lives together, I’ll have ample opportunity to share and teach Sam about the not-so-good or hard lessons I’ve learned…
I was reading in Colossians yesterday and these two verses from chapter two popped out:
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Today, Karen and I finished our pre-adoption training with the agency we are working with. The only training we have left is our CPR & First Aid (if you saw the re-run of The Office the other night…I won’t pull a Dwight!)
My brain is full after today – a lot to process, consider, and file away for future use…
Two thoughts from the day:
I haven’t written too mugh about our journey, one day I will spend some time doing that and post it.
So my life is far from hard. The “trials” I have gone through (I really don’t even feel right calling them that) are not comparable to those that many have had and I humbly praise God for that (if that is even a right thing to do).
I guess the toughest thing that I (and Karen) have gone through has been our two plus-year adoption journey. A plus-year year combination of international then domestic, on then off, known then unknown status, and now back on track. A series of ups and down – all the while knowing that our amazing Heavenly Father was in control…even when we didn’t know where He was leading next! BTW, Karen is great. At one point, she described a disappointing situation this way, “First I was sad. Then I was mad. Then I was glad!”
As you can imagine – plus-year years of a mix of emotions. At times, we’ve wondered “why God?” At times, we’ve asked “why not God?” We’ve even (in all honesty) said, “come on God!” We’ve cried, been confused, been excited, been hurt, been mad, been hopeful, been discouraged. The cool part is that through it all…THROUGH IT ALL, we’ve known that God was in control and had a plan…we’ve just gotten to see it revealed in segments and in His perfect timing!
Tuesday, I was listening to a Andy Stanley’s Defining Moments podcast (#4) and John 9:1-3 hit me. I’ve read this so many times, heard sermons, read commentaries… This time, it just hit me anew. It reads:
1As he [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
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