Where I Work

This is me in front of the office I work in.

Bless the Hands

Often I hear people pray over a meal, "Lord, bless the hands that made this." Today as I ironed a new shirt I prayed (almost without thinking), "Bless the hands that made this." As I ironed, I thought about something I heard on the radio yesterday. The man said, "We can't all be financiers and lawyers. We must make something too."

My shirt was made. Some woman or man sewed the shirt. They might have made a five hundred shirts that day, but still this shirt went through their hands.

Several years ago after seeing dozens of "Hello Moto" advertisements I finally realized that Moto was Motorola. My grandmother spent most of her life working in an Motorola factory assembling their products. Who used the products she touched? Who could appreciate that the person who made their phone was artistic, funny, and odd (sorry, dad for the last one).

Bless the hands. Bless the hands that made the products I use. Bless the people behind all that I touch.

Two Prayers

There are two prayers that I pray. The first is, "Lord, please help me to know myself as I am. Don't let me be blind to my faults." The second prayer is, "Lord, please help me to see myself as you see me." It is the second prayer that gives me courage. Yes, I want to know where I fall, I want to know the weak places in my life, but more than anything I want to know the strength God's love. I want to know that God sees not only who I am now but who I am becoming in His love.

Everlasting Love

One of my earliest memories is a trip to the store with my mom's friend to buy potato chips. (I must have been three or four.) Why that little slice of memory (the coil spring in the back sticking through the chair, the bags of potato chips, my car seatless state) stays with me I'm unsure.

But tonight I was thinking about the text "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness" (Jer 31:3). And I thought about my first memory. His everlasting love was there. His everlasting love touched my life when I was small (how I needed it then) and it touches my life still (how I need it now!). His everlasting covers before I was born, my first memories, my early childhood struggles, my teenage years, my young adult life, this moment, tomorrow morning, ten days from now, and into eternity. Every place, every day, every moment is marked by love.

Sometimes I think about us humans. I think about our struggles to love and be loved. His everlasting love has entered that struggle; it is breaking the cycle of our brokenness and leading us into an eternity of His love.

Family Friends

This morning Laura, Kristen(my sis-in-law), and I walked around Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. As we walked I soaked in the beauty of the place (the rolling hills and the fog on the lake), and I thought about how precious time can be sometimes. It's a small thing walking together, but I know what a privilege it is just to have that moment to be together.

This weekend was special. Laura and her husband are friends with my brother and his wife, but we've never all been together at the same time. It was also special in another way. I've known Laura since I was three years old, and our parents know each other from the time they were missionaries together in the Marshall Islands. This weekend I got to see her children play with my nephew and niece. This makes three generations of our respective families that are friends.

Kristen says we should make meeting in North Carolina a tradition. I think so too. It is so nice to be with friends that are almost family.