Postman

Today I witnessed a rarity. True, authentic customer service.

The exchange happened at the post office.

There was one elderly man in front of me. He walks up to the counter and the Postal work says 'why hello Mr. So and so. What can I do for you today?'

The customer says 'well, I need to give this piece of mail back to you.'

'Oh, that's not even near your address now is it? Okay, I will get that to the right place.' said the postman.

Super simple exchange. What made me smile was how kind this postman was. This elderly gentleman was obviously a common customer. He comes by often enough for the postman to remember his name and address.

Even though the postman takes care of some pretty mundane tasks, you could hear the kindness and the 'I like my job' in his voice.

Definitely an example to strive for. To live extravagantly loving and serving others in every circumstance whether the circumstance be common or once in a life time

Multiple personality

Personality, so much personality!

Fierce!

 The snuggler

Easy going 

Comedic

Photographer

Reader

Play mate

Sipping Tea

 Ever had one of those moments where a taste, smell or sound triggers a memory?

Today I was sipping some tea and it took me back to a few summers ago all the way on the other side of the globe.

I had the opportunity to spend the summer in Central Asia, with a wonderful local family assisting with English camps for the kids in the community.

Moments spent with my host family were probably the times I treasured the most. We spent lots of time together and we drank lots of tea together.


The weather was hot and the tea we drank was equally scalding. This was something I didn't quite get. Why drink something hot when the weather is so hot? Doesn't it just make you feel hotter and sweat more? In the end, it didn't really matter what I thought; drinking tea was customary so we drank tea after each meal no matter how hot it was or how much we sweated!


The more tea we drank the more I became accustomed to drinking a hot beverage on a hot day and the less I really cared about it. Sitting down for tea became less and less about the tea, although the tea was delicious, and more and more about taking time to share our lives with each other. How I cherish those moments.

It is way too easy to get caught up in life and forget all about how we are created to be relational beings. When we neglect to relate to one another we miss out on something great that we were all created for- relationship.

May we take time this week to stop and smell some roses, sip some tea and share with a friend.

Calling

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

Genesis 11:31-32

I once heard a pastor mention these two verses in a sermon about the call of God on our lives. You may be wondering how these verses could make any point at all, they seem rather insignificant. 

The pastor suppposed that the call that Abram received to leave his homeland and family (a few verses later) could have possibly been a call given to his father, which his father didn't carry out.

According to these verses Terah and his family were from Ur and at some point they packed up and left on a journey towards Canaan, the place that God would later promise to give to Abram. Why would Terah uproot his family to go to an unknown land? Is it possible that before calling Abram God first called his father?

Let's suppose that God did call Terah to go and he went. Well, what happened? On their journey they traveled through Haran and settled there. They didn't make it to Canaan and Terah died there.

Sometimes God calls us to something specific. We hear the call and head out on a grand adventure, just like Terah. Along the way we may make a few stops. Some of these stops are awful comfortable. We begin to reason that traveling on the road is dangerous and really no place for a family and we forget the original call. Before we know it, we have settled in a real comfortable place and have an enjoyable life but have neglected the call of God.

God's call isn't always comfortable or easy. Jesus says that broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the way that leads to life. More often than not, God's call travels on a narrow path. It is not a path that the world would choose, only someone who truly believes and trusts in God knowing that the end result will be worth the present lack.

May we strive to live our lives following God all the way to the finish; not letting worries, wealth, comfort or desires of the world deceive us thus keeping us from experiencing God himself and the fruition of His plan.

Sundays

Sundays are good for one thing. Rest.

Growing up, Sundays always consisted of going to church together, coming home for lunch and then letting the afternoon sweep you off your feet to far far away nap-land.

It seems like no matter how hard you would plan and strive to be productive on a Sunday the chances of plans being interrupted by a nap monster were highly likely.

I think rest is good. After all, God did rest after He completed His creation. If God rested, how could we expect to not need rest. Not only that, but part of the law for the Israelite people was to set aside a day for rest and worship. Rest is important.

In our world today, it is easy to get caught up in so many things that we are run ragged. Our things own us and the things we do rule our lives instead of God being in control.

Rest is good because it is a way to set everything aside and say, 'We trust You God to take care of us today. We rest in You knowing that you are in control of the world and that you are much more capable of handling our life than we are; so for today, I am going to set back and rest in You.'

Whatever day it may be, may we always find time to truly Rest in our Father's presence realizing that sometimes there is no greater thing we could be doing.

Many uses of a box

Boxes are definitely the toy of choice in our household. Our cats love boxes. I hear that this is the case with children too. Who cares what is inside of the box, it is limited; but the potential of a box, now that is limitless.

According to our cats, the sky is the limit when it comes to what you can do with a box and a little imagination.

You can hide in a box.....

 

 Pretend to be a new creature in a box...

 You can play with a friend and a box....

You can fly away in a box...

You can be friends with a box....

Or at the end of a day, you can snuggle real good with a box.

Stars

He determines the number of the stars

and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit

Psalm 147:4-5

  God knows everything about each individual star, even their names. If God cares for the stars in such a way, how much more must he care for human beings.  His created image.

I am so thankful to know such a wonderful, relational God. Out of the 7 billion people on the planet, God knows the 7 billion names those people are called. When He calls, He calls us by name. God knows us, may we strive to live our lives to know Him.