Birthday Wishes

February 23, 2015

Today is my wife's birthday. How can I not give thanks? She has been by my side in good times and bad, through penury and plenty, in sickness and in health. There were times lesser women would have said to themselves, "Why bother?" She may at time have thought  it, but bother, she did, and I am the better for it. We have been blessed with family and friends with whom we have walked through life. Even though our boiler in our Cassadaga house has been an absolute lemon, and we've had to pay and pay and pay to get and keep heat there, we are able to absorb the expense. There was a time in our lives when that would have been disastrous for us. Now, it's unpleasant, but we are able to handle it. Many people would trade places with us in a heartbeat to only have to handle the issues we face. 

We are healthy, we love each other, we even like each other most of the time! And today we celebrated her birthday with a late lunch at a new hole in the wall place that was recommended to us. We'll go back to the Liberty Cafe in Fredonia, for sure! I read articles about the beheading of the 21 Christians by ISIS, and listened to a testimony of the brother of one of the martyrs, who said, "We are grateful to ISIS for not editing the video of our brother's death." Before he was killed, he gave eloquent testimony to his faith in Christ and his refusal to convert. Here are Christians who understand as we do not, that following Christ is all-out, total devotion to Jesus that actually carries with it the consequences Jesus warned us about. I don't know how I would handle such treatment if it were I facing death, but I know I am required by my faith to live out the Gospel not presently in the context of persecution, but in plenty. The parable of the Sower speaks of four seeds, each with its own challenges. Persecution and Plenty are two of them, and the message of the parable is one of faithfulness in whichever soil we are planted. I have often wondered if I am being faithful and fruitful in the soil that is overgrown with the weeds of plenty, or if those weeds have choked out the life of God in me. I don't fully know the answer, but I know how important it is to keep asking the question.

So today, in the midst of blessing upon blessing, I ask, and at the same time, am grateful for grace which has been shown me in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Upon that grace I stake my life, upon it I depend, and for it I give thanks.