God is Ridiculous!

I spent the day today reflecting back on my Birthday week.  I say week because it really started Friday the 5th and didn’t end until Sunday.  Here is a brief rundown of my week;

Friday:  Had my mother-in-laws BMW Z3 on a beautiful sunny day.  Lunch on the waterfront with my sister.  Shopping with my mom for a jacket that I have wanted.  Dinner with my parents.  Back to the in-laws which I received a North Face jacket that I have wanted (sorry mom I took back your jacket, actually she already knew and understood).

Wednesday: Julie decided that she had enough of my shirts that I wear for work and took me clothes shopping.  While this wasn’t necessarily considered my birthday present, it sure felt like it.  I now have a bunch of new shirts for Sunday’s.  Pretty awesome.

Thursday (Actual Birthday): Besides all the really awesome birthday wishes between texting, phone calls, myspace, facebook, and email.  Julie took me out to dinner at my fav. restaurant, Red Robin.  We then came home to find my present from her a Wii.  On top of that I received some cash from family and friends so I was able to purchase a game too.

Friday:  Spent the day with a few friends playing disc golf at Milo McIver Park (really awesome course has a 1065ft hole).  Not only that but was given a sweet new disc from Steve.  Then I came home to a party with some of our friends playing board games (Monopoly rocks), eating cake, and having a bunch of laughs. Oh and with money I was given for my birthday I was able to replace my Teva’s that didn’t survive the high school retreat.

The rest of the weekend wasn’t really eventful it was a weekend of hanging out with Julie and getting to spend time with the Compass staff.  All in all it was a pretty cool way to spend my Birthday week and I just feel very spoiled to be honest.

It is this feeling of being spoiled that leads me to the conclusion that God is ridiculous.  I feel like God continues to provide above and beyond what I could imagine.  Yeah, there is always things I want or want to do but man God has definitely given Julie and I more than I could ask for.  We have an amazing roof over our heads, friends, family, great jobs, opportunities to care for people, and I get to do things I love.  I don’t think I could ask God for more.

What is interesting is that I still get caught up in feeling sorry for myself at times.  I feel stress to do a good job, stress to look a certain way, act a certain way.  I get so caught up in myself that I can miss God.  Yet, He is hear, continuing to provide and challenge me.  I try and hold on to so much of what I really don’t have any control of.  I am guilty of thinking that all of what I have has been because of me.  Even writing that sentence makes me laugh because I know me and I know that what I have has very little to do with my skill or financial savvy.  I don’t think what God has given me is because I have done really anything special, it isn’t because of my prayers, or because of what I do, I think God is providing this for us so that we can care for others.

I remember our prayer when we started looking for this house, it was a prayer not that we could have a bigger better house it was that we could have a house that we would be able to care for other people.  A house where our family and friends would feel welcome and a refuge for us as we continue to live our lives.  It has definitely been that.  Friday we had like 14 people here, something we couldn’t do at our old house.  I remember our prayer for jobs for Julie and now she is in a place where she can serve God and have time to care for us.

I wonder sometimes, why me.  I know me.  I know what my thoughts are, that my life isn’t just roses and sunshine.  I have made plenty of mistakes, I have done things that I regret and yet God still provides.  I then look at some of the guys like David, Moses, Peter, etc… they all had flaws, they probably didn’t deserve anything that they were given either but they were given it.  That really is the point we don’t deserve anything.  There is nothing that we can do that would erase or overcome our flaws, but that is why God is big.  God provides for us to show us that He is good.  We need to understand it isn’t about us, it is about Him.  We need to hold the things that we have been given lightly.

I don’t think these are my complete thoughts and I still am working through this a bit, so I’m sure that you will hear more on the subject, but for now…