Bouncy Castle Friends

Last night I did some thinking about the friends who have kept me rolling these last couple of years.
I have good friends. I have friends who have grocery shopped for me, brought me meals, done my laundry, and cleaned my house.
I've been so blessed to be surrounded, in all phases of my life, with good people.

Tonight I'd like to address a special variety of friendship that I am thankful for these days.
I call them Bouncy Castle Friends.  :O)
These are the people that I am certain would follow me even into the most insane scenarios "just because" we're friends.

I think of them as "Bouncy Castle Friends" because I'm certain the folks I'm thinking of tonight would happily toss their shoes and jump into a bouncy castle with me... you know who you are. I'd name a few, but y'all I have some crazy friends!

Some of my BCFs have demonstrated this kind of insanity. Some of them, well I'm just pretty sure we're going there some day. 

If you know me at all (and really... you should...), I like a good time.
I'm happiest when things are happy.  :O)
I can be serious, but who wants to do that all the time? Not. Me!

So here's to my bouncy castle friends and the many more years of insane joy that lie ahead.
I still plan on being a bcf well into my 80's... so stay healthy people.

Bounding and Bouncing.
-Gina

Waiting - Again

I distinctly remember my sweet friend Becky counseling me during one of my "singleness stinks" pity parties. She told me that we are always waiting on something. When you move from one phase in life to another you just shift your "wait" to something different.
I remember thinking at that time "but if I just had a boyfriend...." I didn't really get it!
Becky was, as she is so often, dead-right.
Each phase in life sees us looking to a different phase.

I wrote about that in my journal the other night.
Waiting - Guess we're never really done with it.

Luckily the waiting game has occupied much of my devotional life over the last ten years or so.
I'd often laugh about it - like I was some kind of expert.
I'm SO not an expert.

I'm just a really, really impatient person who has learned some valuable lessons in her lifetime.
Since I needed a reminder tonight I thought I would share some of them condensed. I wrote a daily devotional for 7 years... so I have a few to chose from.  :O)

1 - 1 Samuel - Hannah faithfully waited on God. God answered.

I almost always think of Hannah when I think of waiting because of her faithfulness during some painful waiting times (1 Samuel 1:7-8, 10). Hannah waited on God for YEARS to see the fulfillment of God's promise to her.  She wept and prayed. God answered.

2 - Psalm 27:13-14 - You can trust Him

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD ; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

3 -Psalm 33:20-22- Hope is worth it.

Pray as you may, some things won't work out as you hoped. But hope anyways.

4 -Psalm 38:15 - Not waiting on God always ends badly

I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.

More often than I'd like God's answer to my questioning has been wait. Everyone can think of a story in the bible where someone pushed ahead of God. None of them went well. Know that God hears you and always answers. It may not be what I want to hear, but it will be an answer.

5 -2 Peter 3:9 - God is not slow in keeping his promises.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

This is key for me to keep in mind when I am praying for something specifically. My timing and God's couldn't be any more different. I want it yesterday. Remember, while we look at where we are now, God is looking at everything at once. He isn't slow or withholding anything from us. He is working it all out.

Trust him. He's had more experience at this then we have. : )

Ok. I'm thouroughly convicted for the evening.

Night friends.

Waiting in hope,

-Gina

It's Been a Week

Well it's been a little bit. I'm still trying to pop in here once a week or so. So far, so good.
August is here... it's hot.
That's all I have to say about that!


This past week was a tough one.

Early on in the week we got a phone call that one of our sweet volunteers had been in a terrible car accident. We were given no details, just told she was in critical condition and to pray.
News the next day was not good.

Life Support
Brain dead
No hope

My heart broke. By the week's end two people that I respected greatly had left us to go be with our heavenly Father. One I knew rather well after four years of working with her in different roles. One I knew only in passing. He was a spiritual hero of mine. An incredible man who lived literally until the last day to share Christ and make disciples.  She was a hero of mine too - someone who served tirelessly behind the scenes... never asking for credit or reward.

My heart broke last week... repeatedly.
Tough week.
While I rejoice for their struggles to be over on this earth I mourn for their families and friends. Life lived without these two is a little less bright. Heaven and the prospect of heaven got a little sweeter.

You get thoughtful when weeks like last week come.
You spend a lot of  time thinking about life and death - about the legacy that your life is building.
You grieve. You examine. You weep.

It's the ups and downs all wrapped together that make our lives what they are. It is the good and the bad that shape us. It is how we react, how we walk this life, that tells a lot about who we are.

Tonight I'm thinking about what this next week holds: two funerals - one wedding.
Life... it goes on.

I am determined to not waste a second of it.
I am determined to build the legacy that Christ desires.
I am determined to follow the lessons of making disciples and serving others that I have seen modeled so well.

No regrets. No words left unsaid. Live life well. Live life fully.

-G

Change

It's funny In some ways. I remember reading in my journal in a recent re-read the following:
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when you change you invite more change along for the ride."

Change is just in the air.
I feel a bit melancholy tonight. I'm not upset or sad though so maybe wistful is a better word.

I have had a lot of great conversations over this last week with people who are reading here. HI PEEPS!
I've guessed 4 readers and even gone as high as 7, but this last week has broadened my vision and shocked me quite a bit.

I think part of this current phase has been kicked off by some of what God has been teaching me and some of what you've been telling me.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the "next thing" in our lives that we forget to live and be fully in the current thing. One consistent thing in my life as a single has always been to never put my life on hold waiting for something to happen.

I have traveled the world, walked on the Great Wall, swam in the Dead Sea, ridden a camel in Israel, been almost run over in Ukraine, stood at the top of Niagara Falls, seen the lost city of Atlantis (well the Bahamas resort version at least), and visited the empty tomb outside Jerusalem. I have done so many things that I never would have dreamed possible growing up.

Never let what may happen in the future stop your "now."

Always live for HERE because HERE is all we are promised.

So maybe you cannot travel the world.

What can you do?

LOVE: Love with abandon. Love with ridiculous abandon. Love until your heart may break from the joy of it. Love people who cannot or will not love you back, just because you can. Love until it hurts!

LIVE:  Live each moment. Sometimes I catch myself still wishing today away. Yes - tomorrow will be spectacular. At this current season it is tempting to count days until I see a certain person. But any day wished away in lieu of another day is a God-given day wasted.
Live fully. Leave nothing behind at the end of the day. What is it that your are passionate about? Be there - do that. No excuse is valid to yourself for wasting a day by hiding somewhere.

HOPE: Now you may think because I mentioned that I didn't want to waste time wishing days away that I intend to tell you I do not hope for or think about my future. That is so not true. I live saturated in HOPE. That is why despite any circumstance that I may be facing or may face in the future I know I can LOVE and LIVE. Life is full of hope. So where you are now isn't where you want to be - guess what? You can make changes. Life not turning out as you intended (and trust me people I have many of those moments). The future is still laid out before you.  If you are granted another breath after the one you just took, then you my friend have a reasonable expectation to HOPE. Now don't waste it!

Love. Live. Hope.

:O)
Ginabob!