BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

HEAVEN IS GAIN     But just think of stepping on shore       and finding it heaven     Of touching a hand        and finding it God's      Of breathing new air         and finding it celestial       Of waking up in glory           and finding it home              --Finally Home by Don Wyrtzen I find it weirdly ironic that Gregs's life verse was Philippians 1:21 which says, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." It's almost like he knew his life would be short. If any of you know how Greg was in his teen years, I can see why he thought his life would be short. He didn't always make the best decisions pre-Jesus. When he accepted Jesus as his Savior, his life was totally changed. He dropped the friends he had been hanging around with and moved, sight unseen, to Arizona so he could go to Bible college. H...

TAKING A RISK I like to think of myself as an adventurous, risk-taking person. After all, I've traveled some, enjoy hiking outdoors (never know when you might run into a rattlesnake) and love the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.  I love watching YouTubers sail around the world or those who sell everything to live in a camper and travel the states and dream of what that would be like. I'm not one who loves the thrill of falling from an airplane and if you've seen the latest Amazing Race, not even a million dollars could get me to free fall through a ravine in Switzerland. Ok, so maybe I'm not the biggest risk-taking adventurer, but I have taken risks. They tend to be so scary, but so rewarding. I was reading through 1 Samuel recently and I love the story of Jonathan and his armor-bearer (poor dudes so heroic and we don't even get to know his name) and the risk they took in taking on the Philistines to advance God's chosen people. If you don't know the sto...

I was recently at an amusement park, standing in line, waiting to get on a ride. There were a couple of moms behind me with their preschool age kids enjoying talking and not really paying attention too closely to their children. One little boy was easing his way up to where we were and then further up to see what was in front of him. I wasn't paying much attention to him either as he inched his way up. I had turned around and was talking to my kids when I noticed the look on his mother's face. It was one I had seen before and experienced myself. She was panicked because she couldn't see her son. She started calling his name, frantically looking left and right to find him. As soon as I took the scene in, I got her attention and pointed to where her son was. Immediately, her face calmed and she politely smiled and thanked me as she got her son and brought him back to her side. I have been in that same place. I have lost children in amusement parks (more than one...ok about...