Yielded Chapter

Maybe you've seen or heard the latest unemployment figures being reported in the news: Jobless Rate Jumps to 7.2%; Unemployment Rate Hit 16-Year High; 524,000 Job Eliminated..................and the many more headlines that continue to be captured by every news outlet.

Talk about sobering news. Talk about uncertainties. Talk about the reality of a rude awakening. Talk about the many individuals and families hit with the precarious reality of these economic conditions. And talk about this hitting home.........not just any home, but our home.

Reality revealed.

After 7 a-half-years of gainful employment, I found myself gainfully unemployed. I wasn't just reading the news, I became a part of the news. I am an individual contributor to the growing job loss statistics. I suppose I can characterize my situation where I have "fallen victim to the economic downturn". Or dramatize the circumstance where I have become "a casuality of uncertainties." I suppose any of those descriptions will do. I'll take one of each to go, please. And may I have fries with that?

Indeed, it is not a place where I prefer to be, but it is, nontheless, a place where I am. And that place does not have room to rent - for either "victim" or "casualty". And here is where this pivotal moment will determine how the next chapter of life will be written. Not by me, but by the author and finisher of me. The question is whether I will be yielded and fully surrendered to the Author's pen.

Challenges, difficulties, heartaches, struggles, tribulations.........they are not strangers to any of us. They come with the package. It's not a matter of if, but when. How we surface after being submerged in a sea of trials will reveal the depth of our character. And yet not our character solely, but in whom our character is built. As the Author lovingly strokes each letter and writes each word onto the pages of our lives, we may feel the pain of being pressed with each forming words, but we know that the temporary pain will produce the precious prose that only the Author can pen. And we can be assured knowing that the Author is forging in us; for us....."a future and a hope."

Christmas and Contentment

It was without a doubt another memorable Christmas in our household. A wonderful part of our tradition is waking up to gather around the fireplace feeling the warmth and amber radiance of the fire where each family member gets to empty the content of their stockings one by one. After the goodies are revealed and the stockings are restuffed, we transition to a scrumptious Christmas breakfast lovingly prepared by my wife, Laurie. We pause to give thanks to Him who is the giver of the greatest gift to us – Jesus. Conversation flows. Excitement and anticipation of what is to come (you know, the unwrapping of those inconspicuous items under the tree) oozes from every pore of our three children.

After every morsel of breakfast was eaten and clean up completed, we gathered once more by the fireplace to read the Christmas story and for a time of prayer. Our children are old enough where they can now participate in the reading of the Christmas story. In fact, we started this part of our family tradition three Christmases ago when our middle child, Jaz, asked if he could read the Christmas story. That just delighted our hearts. So now, we all participate in our reading time, even our 6 year-old son, who was brimming with Christmas energy. Prayer time is also very special because it sets our hearts with an attitude of gratitude for the blessings that God has showered upon us; and further acknowledges and reaffirms Jesus’ rightful and central place as the reason we celebrate Christmas. After our prayer time we would gather around the Christmas tree to savor the unwrapping of gifts as each child and parent wait on one another to view the unveiling of gifts.

This Christmas was especially memorable, when Jaz opened our prayer time asking that God give him contentment with what he will receive. That just blew us away. Whoa! What a minute. You just stole our parental prayer thunder. Mom and dad were supposed to pray for that. It’s one thing for me as a parent to pray for my children's state of contentment, but hearing it come from our 9 year-old son - in his own words; from his heart........... gave us a God-moment experience that we will always treasure.