Stuff I've been thinking about...

I have NO idea where this one came from...it literally hit me out of the blue in the car this afternoon. I’ve traveled A LOT...I’ve traveled a lot this year, alone. I’ve left the country three times already this year and I already have another trip planned. So, I’ve seen a lot...I’ve seen some really beautiful places...places that will take your breath away. Look at my photo blog to see some of the pictures: Shiloh Photography. Three years ago I sat on a rooftop in Peru listening to a godly man speak about Ephesians 1.4: just as we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. I looked at the beauty of the mountains around me in the waning sunlight and realized that my life was written before the foundation around me...all that magnificence was made of God’s leftovers.

So, today in the car, it occurred to me that all of the beauty of Peru and Ecuador and St. Kitts and all of the places that I love, all of that was created with just a breath in seven days. Such glory in seven days. And, here’s where Heaven comes in...Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you...” (John 14.2). He said that 2,000 years ago.

How far beyond our wildest imaginations must Heaven’s beauty be??? If the colors of the Caribbean ocean and the topography of the Peruvian country-side took a mere seven days, how ridiculously, unbelievably amazing is Heaven going to be??? I can’t even wrap my brain around the words to think about it.

And I stinking can’t wait to see it!!!

This is where I am today...

It may be a phone call
That comes without warning
And suddenly my heart is breaking
It may be a headline
I wake to one morning
And suddenly my world is shaken
But every now and then
When life falls apart
There's a truth I trust
That calms my ehart

Nothing takes You by surprise
Here beneath these troubled skies
There's a comfort just to realize
Nothing takes You by surprise

Sometimes the hard times seem
Senseless and random
Like life's just a series of chances
But come what may You've never
Left us abandoned
You're God over all circumstances
And nothing on earth
Can stop Your plans
You're in control
We're in Your hands

Nothing takes You by surprise
Here beneath these troubled skies
There's a comfort just to realize
Nothing takes You by surprise

Though bitter winds blow
This truth is sweet
Things out of our hands
Are still under Your feet

And

Nothing takes You by surprise
Here beneath these troubled skies
There's a comfort just to realize
Nothing takes You by surprise

Nothing takes You by surprise
Whatever crisis may arise
Jesus, You're Lord of our lives
Nothing takes You by surprise

Mark Harris/Tony Wood

I love you, Andrea...and I'm praying for you and your family!