First day of respite has brought a quietness that I've enjoyed. It's amazing how much you have to adjust to the stillness (or lack thereof). The world beckons at every turn...calling me to live it in the fast lane. The other voice waits for everything to get quiet...it's the One I want to hear. Today I think the message has been "Get ready". I don't know which way that goes yet, but I'm up for anything...to be "undone" or "remade"or both..."refueled" or "retooled"...or both. Either way I want change to take place. As the anonymous comment from this weekend's post encouragingly suggested, "To look a little more like Him." Maybe that means some suffering (I don't think this cold I've come down with counts). Maybe it means drawing near to God as Christ drew near through prayer when He was on this earth. Maybe it means being one with the Father...I shudder to even think about that one. That would be the ultimate goal of all of life...you know what I mean? Can't wait to see. I don't usually change subjects in the middle of a blog, but yesterday was an amazing day for a few of us. Personally, I watched with amazement as my son's best friend (and coincidentally, best friend's son) sucked on some orange jello in a hospital room just hours after drowning and being saved by his brothers...and revived by another best friend. I still am struggling to take that all in. He's going to be OK. Hallelujah! I believe he'll be used by God for extraordainary things just as the Biblical patriarch with which he shares a name was spared so that he could be used to advance the purposes of the Father. We'll see. Interestingly, listening to a 4-year-old's first-hand recounting of his experience through all of that was the perfect recap of the message I delivered yesterday. It would seem that the point of Sunday, August 5th, 2007 (at least for me) was that "self-reliance" is so utterly futile. To become like a child...helpless...in need...desperate for the hand of the Father to reach down and deliver him...that's what we all need...whether we realize it or not. Dad's recounting of the trip to the hospital shouts that message loud and clear...oh, how a parent will respond to the deepest needs of their little boy..."Nothing...absolutely nothing will prevent me from saving you" and then they did...and then they cried. Of course they cried. So many emotions...so many thoughts...about the past...the future...the alternative...the possibilties...the potential. I know you two are holding him close tonight...and E and M and J...tears of my own are here now...We've got 4 little ones too...with all the potential in the world.