Thoughts On This Tuesday

How are you feeling the week after Christmas? Do you feel like it’s a letdown this week? Do you feel you missed the point of Christmas because you got caught up in the hussle and bussle? Yesterday there was a customer at the store that I was talking to about this whole subject. He feels like we (meaning culture) spends so much time looking for the perfect gift instead of praising the gift giver, Jesus Christ. Though I have thought much about that this season, I like how he put it. He said that for his family next year, he decided that each would choose a name out of a hat and only buy a gift for that one person, up to $25. Then the rest of the time would be spent fellowshiping and with the saved time, hopefully spending it praising God and helping others. What a neat idea I thought! I can’t say I was really stressed this season and I enjoyed buying what I did. But I see customers coming into the store in such a frenzy and wonder if they know WHY they are buying the gifts they are. Something it ponder I suppose!

One thing I love about Christmas now is that it brings all the college kids home. Though they are younger than us, they are our friends. We love them all so much because they’ve either been in our youth groups, or were in our college group when we first started at the church. We definitely keep busy during this time hanging out, but I do see it is so incredibly good for us. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE our high school and middle school kids, but we also have college kids that we care for too – they just aren’t with us doing the school year. It’s refreshing.

The Sterks took a big step today! We actually BOUGHT INTERNET!! We live across from an ice rink that has public internet access – if we sit at our kitchen table or living room couch, we can get connection- those are the only places. So, that is what we have been using for the past 4 1/2 years! Though, it’s extremely unreliable – it will lose connection at any given point – forget trying to download something that may take awhile. BUT…we’ve been blessed because it’s public. Well, we have been going back and forth whether to get “real” internet b/c our youth group kids come over and want to use their internet phones and can’t b/c the signal isn’t strong enough. They get rather frustrated. Plus, then we can do more online if we have the “real” stuff because we’ll have a good connection. So, if our kids want to show us a video online, we can actually watch it in the same night :). So today we broke down and bought it. It was a STELLAR deal – best one we’ve ever seen through AT & T. I didn’t think we’d ever give in, but it was getting to the point where we had to. We’ve realized with Dan’s job and me not having an “office” as the youth pastor’s wife, it was a necessity :). So it’s a big day today for us! I know that all sounds so cheesy and yes you can call us old school, but our Dutch genes have been getting the best of us for the past 4 1/2 years!

I am thankful that this season has been quite busy for us because it’s taken my mind off the big things that are going on in our life. I haven’t thought too much about the whole Mayo Clinic thing, which I am thankful for. Yes so much of me just wants to know, but I am trying to trust and trust that each day I have to keep living it to the fullest and not worry about what the future may hold. When I think about it, I worry and my mind goes crazy. God already knows, so why should I sit here and try to figure it out (now if I only always thought that way about it :)).

Please continue to pray for our dear friends (and they are family as well – literally), who just lost two twin daughters on Christmas Day. It was a shock to us all and my heart continues to grieve for them. I could go through all the questions and ask God why, like why Christmas day? Why them? Why now? BUT…only God can answer those. It’s just so hard to know that they are hurting and it just makes me cry even typing this. They named their stillborn daughters Faith and Hope. How beautiful. What a testimony of their faith and hope in God. Their faith and hope are a witness to me and have encouraged me in ways I’m sure they’ll never know. But please continue to pray as grief is a process and it’ll be a long road ahead of them. Though I am eager with anticipation to see what story God is unfolding in their life – God WILL and PROMISES to use this for the good, though it’s hard to see that amidst the situation.

Life is so fragile. God blesses us with life, but God also knows the perfect time when our life here on earth is done – and we are not the determiners of that – only God is. God has chosen to give me breath for 27 years and that means God is not done with me! That’s why I am excited to see where God is taking us.