Johnny's Back

Hello faithful travellers on the road of life; I am back. I apologize for laying low for such a long time. My only excuse is that I switched over to the new beta version of blogger and it wiped out some of my settings and having the unfortunate disposition of occassional laziness I scraped blogging for a while. However, like anyone who likes to write it has called back to me and now I have returned to the world of screens and words. Please forgive my laziness if you have been waiting anxiously for me to post another amazing photo of my awesome boys or write some witty quip from our life. I am now planning to be prompt again in my blogging and to ever update my sites, books, and such on my blog. Ok, with all of that explanation said and done I will get on with the point of my post today--aging. I am now 33. I hit this record milestone yesterday (January 18th) and now I have reached the age of enlightenment. Ok, that really is not true but age does tend to cause one to stop and pause for reflection on life and all of its mysteries. As I told my Pop yesterday when he asked me to enlighten him on all the new knowledge that I have acquired with this new year of age, "I need to stop and debrief so that I can fully assimilate all that I have come to know in this world now." I am now the age of crucifixion so I pray that this little fact does not indicate hardship, frustration and turmoil this year. However if it happened to our Lord then why not me? However, I do need to stop and think about a few things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for my wife: she continues to journey through life with me and doesn't complain too much about socks on the floor or my complete inability to find anything the first time I look. I am thankful for my boys: they have an uncanny way of filling my life with the just the right amount of joy and complete insanity. I am thankful for my church: I now serve a wonderful group of poeple who are forgiving, loving and willing to learn from a green pastor. I am thankful for my growing relationship with God: each day I am privileged to carry on relationship with the God of all creation inspite of my unworthiness. He calls me to His table and offers me a seat. He forgives my shortcomings and teaches me to be better. He pursues me when I am distant, He leads me into the best possibilities of life. In short, I am continually in awe of the God who allows me to work with Him to bring about His good will in the world. In the coming days I will post more devotional and homiletic thoughts as part of my blogging. I am glad to be writing again. May you experience God's grace today in prrofound and intimate ways.