gonna start you off with an unconventional way i met the love of my wife … at her grandfather’s funeral … did i mention her dad is also one of my best friends ???  bet ya don’t hear that one every day, huh !!! without getting into all the backstory, she’d been widowed young, and, yes, my friend is several years older than i am … we didn’t “swipe right” at the funeral nor even think about anything like that, but, we did meet and a month later when he wanted to show his appreciation for me making the journey to support him, he traveled down to Florida to attend my housewarming party and stayed at her place and convinced her to come, and, the rest, you could say, is history … now, why am i bringing this up here you ask ??? great question, i thought you’d never ask 😊 … see, Chuck and i had known each other for a decade before that and while he’d talked about her to me and i to her, we’d never met because we weren’t meant to until it was time … but, when the time was right, it was right and through that connection a new family was made … the next year on the same day we first met i asked her to join me for whatever life throws at us for the rest of our lives and she accepted and we were planning on doing that the year after, but, because of my mom’s cancer and us wanting to include her in the wedding, we moved it up on very short notice, but, you know what, Toni made the calls and even though we were moving our wedding from 7 months out to 8 weeks out every vendor and the venue was still available … and our pastor who normally took time off in the summer, had literally had a break in his schedule for the 4 days that would be required for us to pull this off between his vacation and a church trip to Scotland … our entire marriage has been like this, one rollercoaster after another, and i’m not saying this in a bad way … you see, some folks look at an “issue” or “roadblock” as a hurdle to overcome but for Toni and i, we’ve always just looked at them prayerfully and done everything we can and left the rest up to God and He as provided … maybe not in the way that we had originally wanted nor expected but ALWAYS provided with what we needed … i’ll end with a quick thing i heard at #chosencon i heard last year at the bible round table … they’d mentioned that God always answers prayers … 1) “yes … i thought you’d never ask!” 2) “yes … soon but not yet” 3) “yes … but not the way you’re asking” and finally 4) “no … it’s not right for you” …. what i found interesting is that in their interpretation of this, 3 out of the 4 is that God says “yes” … and even the “no” is a because of a reason, even if we don’t know it … and, in this ole’coot’s experience, that ‘bout sum’s it up perfectly … just a thought that definitely married up 23 years ago and wishes everyone could do the same !!!!

Bible Verse

Matthew 6:9-13 / Romans 8:26-39

Questions

How do you handle things when they don’t go your way ??? everyone gets frustrated, angry, sad, or depressed but, after that is what’s important … is prayer and pivot part of your tool box ???