Second chance

Love this pastor. His name is Pete Wilson. The Church is Crosspoint Church which is in Nashville so I will be joining them via internet for there second chance series. Below is the trailer for the Second Chance series.

Pete also is the author of a new book that I plan to read soon called Plan B.

A kind heart

The other day while entering Oregon Dairy ( a local grocery store) I had the option of picking a big cart or one of those little carts (which I love!). So I run through in my head what I needed and with it not being a big order I picked the little cart. I don't know what it is about these little carts that I like so much. It just makes my shopping experience better for some reason until I get to the check out counter and realize that I stuffed a big order into that little cart and now I am going to have to pray it all fits in once the items are bagged. I wonder if anyone else does this? Is this just me? The embarrassment does not seem to be enough to stop me from running into this problem quite often. So this particular day I am loading my items onto the belt and trying not to make eye contact with the man bagging as I run in my mind how I am going to bring it up that I realize that this bagging and loading of my cart will be a pain in the butt. So I keep loading the belt with my items, looked over at the older gentleman bagging my groceries and noticed that he had already grabbed a bigger cart for me and was placing my bagged items in it. My relief lasted for a moment when then my mind is fixed on what I am to do with the little cart and what do I say? Is he thinking I am stupid for having such a little cart and why do I care what this man I have never met thinks? Needless to say I am driving myself crazy in my mind but the smile on my face would hopefully mask that to those around me. So the dreaded moment comes as I complete my signature on the receipt and start to move forward towards the bagger. I look at him and he says to me, well I will take this from you, as he puts his hand on my little cart, and you are all set. With a big warm smile of no judgement he says and have a great day ma'am. Ahhhh What a nice man. I so appreciated this man this day. A day when the world had not been so good to me and I was feeling like crawling in a hole. Feeling like I could do nothing right. And then God placed this man there that day to make me feel better. As I walked out of that store that day I felt warm, I felt accepted and I felt God's presence so strong within me. I have to say that I like shopping at the Oregon Dairy because I always get a good experience with the people working there. They are always kinder and they really enjoy helping me with my groceries and I truly think they want to make my shopping experience better. Thank you to this man who did not have to get me a bigger cart and did not have to show me his big heart but chose to that day. Rather than have the attitude of thinking, oh here we go, another idiot with too many items in there small cart- embraced me as a person and showed me kindness for doing a silly thing that I am sure I will do again. God make me more like this man so that I can shine light on others who cross my path as this kind man did for me. That man is not just a bagger- that day he was an angel...

Enjoy the silence...

As I sit here listening to the rain fall and sip on my coffee I am filled with such peace. I think of jesus and the times when he would just go sit in a place of silence. Yesterday was a great day and a reminder to get away from time to time and just go to a place where you can just turn life off, relax and just think. Just be silent. Dustin and I decided to spend the day at the beach yesterday. We rose early in the morning and hit the road with the top down headed to Ocean City Maryland. We had such a fun and relaxing day filled with a Starbucks coffee stop, delicious breakfast outside at the Bayside Skillet, serenity of just me, Dustin and the sound of the crashing waves on the beach, boardwalk fries, Candy Kitchen fudge and dinner by the bay. I have a feeling that yesterday will stay with us for years to come as a day for such peace in each other and with where God has us today and has had us in our journey. Things you could very easily take for granted were embraced to a new level and our souls were filled up. So today every time I look in the mirror and see my red sunburned nose I will laugh as I remember our fun in the sun day at the beach. I look forward to the next fun trip and thank God for all the beautiful things in life that I often don't take the time to really see...