Over the years, Sarah and I have put together puzzles over holidays or times with family and friends. We’ve never been hard-core “puzzle people”…like we didn’t have a puzzle table or special puzzle mats to build on or any of the other puzzle accessories people collect. We’d do it here and there and enjoy it.
We hosted our extended family for a reunion back in October, and when they were here, we got 2 puzzles of the area for people to put together. My family loved them! Fun puzzles, cool design, and doable in the short amount of time we were together. On one of the puzzles, we got to the end, and there was a missing piece. There were nearly 40 of us…so it is not out of the question that someone took it to get the pride of dropping in the final piece. The people that (nearly) finished it did it late the last night and searched high and low to find the missing piece. No luck. Many assumed, myself included, that my younger son had taken it so he could have that privilege…he did start the puzzle days before, so it was a logical conclusion he was saving the final more for himself.
The next morning, we were cleaning up and packing up, and right before we put away the (nearly) finished puzzle, we slid it slightly, and the table had slight gaps between the wood pieces…and there between the wood, there it was. The final piece.
We have journeyed through sabbath and prayer and now we take on fasting. This tower is dedicated to the why’s and how’s of what February holds for our journey through fasting and how you can participate no matter where you are!
Last week I had the opportunity to help with an event at the school my kids go to. It was an activity where they practiced social skills and were learning how to be confident, well spoken, thoughtful, kind, courteous, and you know…be good functioning people in society…it turns out that is necessary in life.
It was amazing. These middle schoolers were unbelievably articulate, well thought out, and courteous.
I loved being there and helping out
Before the day we were told to grade these kids hard but fair. Don’t just give them a free pass. Help them learn what they need to work on. Very quickly I learned, golly these kids are good. I guess I need to adjust the curve and grade even harder than I thought so I don’t just give everyone nearly perfect scores.
So I did…because you know…I’m a rule follower.
Building project changes opened opportunities for us to lean into what the Lord may have for us this year. We are excited to enter into 25 with expectation.
Read on to see what we have planned for Jan and Feb, checkout a podcast on what’s happing with prayer, and meet our new worship leader.
Over the past year, my kids have essentially two sets of clothes. The uniforms they wear for school. And the clothes they wear every other day. Their standard clothes on the weekend are Chubbies shorts and a Volcom shirt for Foster and a Chiefs jersey for Keating.
I love chubbies shorts, I love Volcom shirts, I love the Chiefs…but if I had to choose the only thing for my kids to wear…it wouldn’t be that…or at least not everyday.
We all have gone through some sort of journey where our parents or grandparents or someone else guided us and taught us…then at some point, we took on those responsibilities for ourselves. We started to make our own decisions and choices.
When I used to dress my kids and didn’t let them decide, they wore the coolest clothes…alas, they now decide. I have given them their own ability to choose clothes.
All of us go through a journey to launch, and it is leading up to our independence, we are being coached or led until we get there. As followers of Jesus, we believe that our coaching or leading that is done in the faith never actually ends. We should always turn to our God and King to help us make wise decisions.
The struggle is many of us think we know best…and we don’t want to consult from anyone else, especially an ancient book or divine creator.
