Today is the first day of spring. It's 60 degrees with a light north wind, a few puffy clouds in a mostly clean blue sky after last night's slow rain. It's the kind of day that we think of here in the midwest when we think about early spring.
I am so blessed as I think about my life on this beautiful spring day.
-I have a beautiful, loving wife who has grown in her faith to the Lord throughout our almost 15-year marriage.
-I have two remarkable children who are both loving and 'good kids' but who are absolutely nothing alike.
-I live in a community in which most people are friendly and at least try to do the right thing.
-I serve a church in which there is little to no open division or hostility, where people want to follow Jesus, where all people find some sense of worth, where the willingness to let the Holy Spirit lead us is real.
-I have two parents who are still alive and two siblings who are hard at work raising their families and doing their jobs.
-I don't know that I have a lot of close friends that I hang out with because my introversion sometimes gets in the way, but I have many people both near and far that I could call on at almost any moment if there was a need and they would respond.
-I enjoy a second job of driving a school bus; we've had a safe year so far and I think that kids respect me and at least try to behave.
-I make more than enough money to be as comfortable as I need to be, with the ability to put away some money for retirement and the kids' college funds.
-I am relatively healthy for somebody who is close to a half-century old. I don't have aches and pains like many of my peers, and though I need to lose 20 pounds (and have needed to for 20 years!), I still look better and younger than people I went to school with.
-I have been able to travel extensively throughout our nation, to see many of the great wonders of creation.
-I live in a nation that overcomes even terrible leadership, ideological wastelands, and overt sinfulness; even in all its problems it's still the only place this side of heaven that I want to live.
-I have a wonderful Savior, a trusted Spirit, and a powerful God who is for me, not against me.
God has blessed me greatly through the first few months of 2019. May he continue to bless each of us all of our days.
