Welcome to Friday - 10/10/14

The Lord hear you in your day of trouble; 
the name of the God of Jacob defend you; 
Psalm 20:1

 Welcome to Friday!

      

May the overwhelming, awe inspiring, and

ever flowing and flourishing grace of God be with you. 

May His never ending and consuming love be with you,

as it works in you to bring you joy, hope, and peace.

Trust in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High you shall not be moved ~Ps. 21:7

Good morning!  Today is a beautiful day!  It has been created and blessed for you and it will be the kick-starter for a great weekend.  How are you doing?  How are things going with you?  I just wanted to check in again to say Welcome to another Friday, and another weekend.  I hope that you have had blessed and productive week.  What were your highlights?  What neat things were you able to accomplish this week, and what things were apart of your amazing story of grace and love received.  I hope and pray that you have had a great week, and I hope that you are off to a great start to your day.

I woke up and had the blessing of seeing the moon and the morning clouds beautifully arrayed in simply stunning form and fashion.  The moon was out very bright and the contrast in the clouds and shadows was brilliant and breathtaking.  We all know how breathtaking the sunset can be, this morning was on the same level.  The pictures I took captured only a fraction of the amazing views and images on God's tapestry.  

In the morning devotional I found these joyful truths for today and this week: "God doesn't promise to take you out of your situation; He promises to bring you through it... If you look for reasons to rejoice, you will find them!"  I don't have to look that long or that hard to find a great number of blessings this week:

• A beautiful family that knows how to laugh, live, pray, and forgive
• A fantastic visit over the weekend with my mother-in-law
• Enjoyable and productive worship and workshop service at the Black Church Summit
• Putting together a good slide deck to present to pastors, missionaries, and elders of many churches
• Delivering a great talk on Manna Station a ministry that feeds the homeless and hungry
• Laughing at the girls as they came home soaking wet from the football game
• Cassarra going to homecoming and arriving home safely.  She looked so beautiful in her homecoming dress.
• Finishing up our software release project at work
• Receiving acknowledgement for my quick thinking and problem escalation and resolution at work
• Spending time with Trish on date night
• Attending parent teacher conferences at school

• The school is improving by leaps and bounds
• Learning that the girls are excelling and thriving in the new curriculum
• Late nights with Ava and Emma
• Watching Monday night football with Ava who "couldn't sleep."
• Catching a late night snack with Ava who was "so hungry."
• Watching Emma push a chair from the table over to the counter to search for my M&M's
• Thursday night dinner and going out for soft serve ice cream

This has been a good week and the list of things to rejoice in could go on for miles.  We had a great meeting at work and learned that our company rallied from a deficit in August to achieve a great September.  In our monthly company meeting my group was singled out for helping secure over $325,000 in deals last month, and helping earn a renewal for another $300,000.  It was great to hear some really outstanding engineers get credit for their hard work.  Our church was invited to speak about a ministry a good friend started to feed the homeless and the hungry, and I think it went well.  I won big at basketball on Monday, which has helped to offset the pain of losing on Tuesday and Wednesday.  

The week's blessings also included meeting some new folks, enjoying time at home just watching movies, talking, laughing about school, and watching the girls interact.  It was a blessing to listen to Sydney describe her week at school and how much she is learning.  She wrote a not to her teacher saying how excited she was to learn and go to school.  Sydney is in training for "Girls on the Run" and will run a 5K sometime this fall.  She is also rehearsing on the honor choir and been selected as a mentor for her P.E class.

It was a joy to see Paige's school reports and realize how talented she is with computers, writing and math.  Paige is a little mystery.  Sometimes you wonder if she is paying attention and then boom - she blows you away with what she has heard, understood and applied.  I was also amazed by Paige this week and her protection and watchful eye over Ava.  Normally the two of them harass and wrestle each other like crazy and make you want to pull out your hair.    

Trish and I were both glad that Cassarra and Gabbi enjoyed the football game and returned home with only soaking wet hair, soggy shoes, and in need of a shower and warm blanket.  The rain gave us a teaching moment for preparation (what to wear, what to carry).  It was also a good chance to tell them about knowing when to come home.  They both enjoyed the game and the fact that Dutch Fork won the game.  Gabbi seems to enjoy the social experience of hanging out with her friends, especially since some of them no longer attend the same high school.  It was also funny to hear Cassarra talk about how much it costs to be a fan of football now that she doesn't get in free to the games as a part of the marching band.

On Saturday, we all harassed and took a ton of pictures of Cassarra in her homecoming dress.  She looked so grown up and all I could think of was - no, not yet!  She is very beautiful and she looked wonderful for the dance.  She enjoyed herself and told Trish all about it into the early hours of the morning.  One of the other fathers, "The cool dad", drove them to the dance and picked them up later.  I listened to the stories of homecoming later, and got the version she shares with Gabbi. 

All and all we had a good week.  We are blessed and loved and so grateful for you.  I hope that you have a great weekend.  Take care and enjoy time with your friends, family and loved ones.  I hope you get a chance to worship together and reflect on the tender compassion and love that has been showered on you, even in the midst of your circumstances.

Have a great weekend... and...

Welcome to Friday!

God of sure, true, and amazing tender mercies - 

be with us and love on us.

God of sure, true and endless strength -

be with us and provide us with refuge.

God of sure, true and unshakable peace -

be with us and grant our hearts rest.

God of all grace and mercy,God of tremendous power, 

God of unconditional love - bless us always and forever.  Amen.

With love (& in triumph),

Cassius