The Joy of the Lord

Life is so very brief when compared to eternity. Let us all enjoy those moments of being with our loved ones.

The Joy of the Lord

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."

(Galatians 5:22-23)

One week ago today, our family had a birthday party for my wife, Ashley. We met at what is called the Ranch Camp Pool in the Santa Rita Ranch neighborhood where we live in Liberty Hill, TX. In this one location, there are four pools, and it is a beautiful, fun place for families to gather and play. It is exactly what the developers (Ed and Liz Horne) of SRR had envisioned when they built it.

The best word I can use to describe what we all felt that evening was joy, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. (In fact, it is listed second only to love.) All of our family dearly love Ashley. I refer to her as the glue that keeps our family tightly knitted together. She is truly the best person I have ever met, and I am so blessed to be married to her. She is not perfect (only Jesus is), but she resembles our Lord in so many ways, especially in her selfless actions.

The highlight of the evening was, after dessert, we gathered around Ashley, and with the grandkids leading out, we all sang Happy Birthday. Then, with the grandkids' inspiration, we sang it again, and then again, and then again for the fourth time! Here is a video of some of them singing to Ashley (click the image to watch the YouTube short):

What we did as a family last week did not take much planning, money, or even time. But what a wonderful way to be with the ones we love the most, our immediate family. However, there was some difficult news that we heard while at the pool. We saw the helicopter circling overhead and learned that there was a 3-year-old girl in SRR who was missing. Eight police cars showed up at the little girl's house when the parents realized their daughter was not at home. Requests went out for everyone to pray. One firefighter literally walked over to the pavilion where we were gathered and looked at each one of us in hopes of finding the child. This story has a happy and blessed ending: the little girl had walked out of her home to a house nearby under construction. She went inside the vacant home and took a nap. I cannot imagine the horror her parents felt when they discovered she was missing and could not be found. And can you imagine their elation and joy once she was found!

Life is so very brief when compared to eternity. It is but a vapor. James 4:14 says, "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." Let us all enjoy those moments of being with our loved ones. Lives and families that are centered around Jesus are the ones that are the most blessed and filled with joy.

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Podcast of the Week

The Titus Ten: Identity

Pastor Danny picks back up with his series on the Apostle Paul's letter to Titus and its application to us today (especially to men) by discussing the importance of finding our identity in Christ, first and foremost, so we do not get confused about who we are and what is most important in life.

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