Not So "Obvious Blessings"

A problem of mine has always been obliviousness to obvious things in my life. As an example, it took me all of 3 seconds of looking and 10 minutes of talking to realize Kelly Lee Graddy was the woman I wanted for the rest of my life. Unfortunately it took me the better part of 3 months to realize my son had Autism.

A week ago our pastor laid out a challenge and asked everyone to get up each morning and start the day by telling God, Yes. The request is irrelevant, the answer is yes. The idea behind this was to show complete faith and in doing so God would bless us as he sees fit. In the past I've always considered myself blessed. Recently I have been able to step back and see some of the things going on in my life. I have always been waiting for that big whopper of a blessing, mostly because it's obvious. The reality is that we are blessed every day in what we consider small things, but when you stop and think about how that blessing occurred you realize it was a big undertaking to get to that point.

The next time your wondering whether God is going to bless you with his righteousness, here are a couple of things from my world which may help put things in perspective.

Blessings:


1. I was asked to speak to a group of people I do not know about my life in the Autism World.


2. My son, who has Autism, called his mother from a separate room so she would come help him.


3. My daughter memorized Hebrew 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".


4. My wife has volunteered her time to Camp Mission. A Bible School camp for Kids at Summit Church.


5. My wife gave me a card for Father's day that floored me about the way she looks at me and our marriage.


6. I get up two to three mornings a week and enjoy racquetball with other men.


7. I am given a daily opportunity to serve the people around me and help them develop.

Most of the time I am completely oblivious to the fact that the blessings listed above are accomplished by nothing that I have been able to do. Most people wouldn't realize that Hannah never had an interest in the Bible until we started going to Summit. My son would never have called my wife from the other room without therapy, supplements and a lot of prayer. I wouldn't be playing racquetball if my good friend Jason Sain (who I met at Summit) hadn't asked me. The point of all this is; if we stop and think about the things going on in our lives, we will see that the blessing bestowed upon us are actually miracles. These miracles have been prepared for us, but are only revealed after we got out of our own way and let Christ take over.

Just some thoughts from a desperate husband and father.

Reality Check

The family and I went to Orlando this weekend and like most trips you take as a parent, they are not as easy as you envision them before you go. Kelly and I were attending a conference put on by an organization called "The Family Cafe". Family Cafe is an organization that helps all different kinds of people with special needs. The conference was put on at the Colorado Springs Resort with Disney World. Staying anywhere in Disney World is like going to a movie. Once you buy the ticket to get in, they charge you as much as humanly possible for the food, because they know you are not going to leave. While we were there I was reminded of a couple of things that I want to share.



When you become a parent of a child with special needs you suddenly feel like know one can possible understand what your circumstances are like. I was reminded this weekend that not only are the circumstances that surround my life no where near as limiting or cumbersom as most people, but that those circumstances have not defined our family, they have pointed us in the direction Christ wants us to go.



On the way back from the conference, which by they way we left a night early so we would get a good nights sleep in our own beds, my children were listening to the song, God is bigger than the Boogieman, by Veggie Tales. One of the verses in the song says, God is bigger than the Boogieman, he's bigger than Godzilla and the Monsters on TV. My daughter who is all of 6 and as sharp as a knife, proceeds to tell Kelly and I that she knows what a Godzilla is. "Godzilla is a bad God". Kelly then goes on to explain, Godzilla is not a God at all, but a lizard like monster in a movie. The conversation then morphs into Hannah asking Kelly, "Are his hands big enough to hold the whole world?" Who's hands Hannah? "Well God's silly".



The reason I mention both of theses reminders is that even though we feel that our lives are so hard and that we have know idea what is coming next, or how we're going to survive the situation were in. God is going to show you what your life could be like and then he will remind you through the most simple and innocent of situations that it is all in his hands.



"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Martin Luther King Jr.