Full of Surprises!

On the 23rd of this month we had a surprise breakfast at the café for Dayle’s 40th birthday. I decorated with white balloons instead of black because I wanted to symbolically represent life instead of death. This "over-the hill" business is a lie- Moses didn’t even begin his ministry until he was about 80! Abraham was 100 and Sarah was about 90 when they had Isaac, right? Also this holiday season our Pastor’s family had a surprise- their daughter Amber flew here from the states without telling her parents. Someone else we know also had a surprise visit from her sister a few days ago. On Christmas morning Dayle and I were surprised by the 3 alarms that our kids set in our room- all of which went off at 6AM.! They were up and ready to open presents. One of the cool things about kids is that they help us adults to see things from a fresh child-like perspective again. And speaking of kids and surprises, on Christmas night my twin brother Matt told me that he’s now a dad too! What kinds of surprises are in store for 2009? Whatever they are, they’ll obviously be what we least expect. But it keeps life interesting, doesn’t it? And even if some of the surprises are bad, we’ll be surprised by the comfort of God’s presence in the middle of it all, and someday we’ll be surprised by how God worked it for our good. So brace yourself...