I'm still alive

This weekend, my parents and I came down to Chicago to visit Mark and usher a BlueMan Group show. My parents don't get a chance to leave work and home super often, so it was really exciting to have them for the whole weekend. We got all dolled up in our matching outfits of white shirts and black pants and headed downtown. We looked like a herd of waiters who escaped from a restaurant, either that or a group of Jehovah's Witnesses. My parents surprised me and did a great job of getting people to their seat, handing out programs and generally entertaining people with their seemingly unrelated questions (oh wait, that was just my dad;)) We watched the show, and then after a quick change, went to Giordano's for a delightful slice of stuffed pizza. Holy cow, it was good! We finished the pizza fest and headed home to bed. What a great day!

So, the last few months have been some of the most stressful in terms of wedding activity so far. I was thinking about it comparatively to the Epic days, and realized how on my most stressed day now, I'm about 1/10 as stressed as I was at Epic. These thoughts came about because of the sermon we listened to today at our possible future church, Calvary Memorial in Forest Park. It was the story of Ruth and how she chose to seize the opportunity provided to her by God. She made a decision and left the results with God. It felt like an analogy for my life this year. God gave me the opportunity to go to Mexico this summer. I was stressed with work and felt like I had too much on my plate. For some reason, I still felt compelled to go. I did, and met Mark. Then, I had a slightly scary opportunity to leave Epic. As frightening as it was, and despite my lack of understanding why I felt I needed to leave and move to CFACT, I did. It turned out to be the best decision I could have made. So, it was really encouraging today to be reminded of the beauty of making a Godly decision and just trusting that He'll use your obedience to further His purpose for you. I don't believe that making a decision you think is Godly will always end up going exactly as you hoped, but at the very least you know that choosing obedience is taking a step toward God. His purpose, while not always matching our limited view for our lives, will be carried out, and is always, despite short term events, the best thing for us and for His glory.

After that thought-provoking sermon, my family (Mom, Dad and Mark!) sat down at Cosi to enjoy lunch and then headed north. We had an amazing weekend, and once again, I'm reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.