Today I am thankful for 20/30.

This is a new group that we have been a part of creating. A very organic group of people who just want to spend quality time together with other believers their age. We usually meet and have a potluck dinner (last night the theme was “breakfast”).
And last night we went a little deeper than some of the other nights we’ve met. And it was refreshing.

It’s taking time to make new friends…new deep friendships, rather. But I am grateful for this group & for what it’s shaping into.

Today I am thankful for sunshine.

When I woke up this morning the sun was shining, and it has been several days since that has happened. And though I’ve been inside most of the day, I am still thankful that there are no gray skies today.

Today I am thankful that NLR still feels like home.

We took a quick field trip to NLR today with our Garnett Staff friends. It was fun to be back & show our new friends where we came from.  One of them asked on our way back to Tulsa if it was kind of hard to be back like that (just for a short time period) & it really wasn’t. I think that its because I have so much peace that we are where we are supposed to be right now.

But New Life will always be a place I call “home.”

new theme…gotta love being able to just download a theme, switch out a picture and magic, new web site….of course the green sidebar is going to have to change….

That picture up at the top? Our friends at jephotography.net took it.

A few pictures…

Lets start with some pictures i took the other night while walking around the neighborhood:

Garnett Church of Christ runs a food pantry. Basically it is a distribution point for a big food bank in Tulsa. We get to help out sometimes unloading stuff and handing out food. We have a lot of fun with the church members that run it, and we usually get the hook up on some of the left over food.

All the food get sorted into bags to so that it is easy to pass out:

The food pantry team:

unloading the truck:

Today I am thankful for…

New Perspectives.  We went to a lecture today by this lady. She was fascinating.

And friends who let us know they are in town. (Thanks, John & Libby!)

And those people who live their lives in such a way as to cause those around them to inquire about their faith.  (A great lady who has had some tough medical diagnosis lately…but is strong, and continues to find peace, causing those around her who have doubts to wonder about her faith.)

Today I am thankful for sweats & a quiet evening at home.

It’s been a long week, and there is another long week ahead on the horizon. So tonight I am thankful for sweats on this cold, rainy night & some time at home without much interaction with people.  (to be completely honest.)  

Today I am thankful for gentle reminders of God’s love.

These 2 quotes are ones I’ve been thinking about lately. They are from some of our reading materials from last month when we studied our Identity.

“…God wants me to be with him and not do all sorts of things to prove I’m valuable.  My life has been doing, doing, doing.  I’m a driven person, wanting to do thousands and thousands of things so that I can show—somehow, finally—that I’m worthwhile.”
Henri Nouwen – Spiritual Direction

“Nobody has to clean up his act in order to be forgiven or loved; all anybody has to do is believe (trust, have faith) that he’s home free already, and then enjoy the forgiveness he’s had all along by passing it on to everybody he runs into.”
Robert Capon – The Mystery of Christ
Thoughts?

Today I am thankful for friends. New friends and old friends.

We have been hanging out with a group that we’re calling “20/30″ lately, and it has been really fun to meet some new people & watch & see how God develops this group into a community. Last night we had a potluck & went bowling. Ben & I tied with a score of 139! Probably an all-time high score for both of us.

And this weekend we’ll get to spend some time with some “old” friends who will be in town.

I like friends.

Today I am thankful for…

Our Veterans (including my little brother).

The Food Pantry at Garnett Church of Christ-those guys are awesome. And we now have a pantry full of soup.

A husband that enjoys cooking dinner.

(C’mon…join in everybody…What are you thankful for?)