Random thoughts from 30,000 feet

Technology never ceases to amaze me.  I’m sitting here on a flight to Chicago, and ultimately Detroit, to attend my grandmother’s funeral.  Yet, I can still link up to the interwebs.  Sometimes its just amazing.

Anyway, that’s not what I logged on to say.

This last week has been, well, absolutely suck-ful to put it gently.  The up and down and crash of my Uncle’s health and hopes for a liver transplant and my gramma’s death really have struck a blow to the family.  I know for me, this last week has truly tested my faith.  I don’t think that God, Himself, is doing this to test me….let’s make that abundantly clear.  Just that the events of the last week have truly tested me.

It’s easy to trust in God and have faithwhen things are good.  It’s when things go south that it gets much more difficult.  I think it has to do with our desire to control what God does in our lives.  We say “I’ve been good, I’ve been faithful….why is God doing this?  Shouldn’t he be blessing me?”

Well, He is.  In fact, although it’s difficult to see, and even difficult for me to believe lately, His blessings during the tough times are actually greater than in the good.  In the tough times, we can either depend on Him further, or get angry and walk away.  Learning to depend on him more brings us that much closer to Him, makes our relationship with Him that much richer, and, quite honestly, increases the joy and love in our lives.

In the good times, we often lose sight of His work in our lives, thinking we, alone, are responsible for our success.  That’s just human, I guess.

I don’t pretend to understand why my family is facing these tough times.  I think I’ve stopped looking for “why” a long time ago.  I just know that there is a reason, even if I don’t know it or understand it, and that it’s when times are toughest that God draws closest to us and loves us even more.  In our weakness He is made perfect.

I know this is going to be a tough weekend…emotionally and physically draining.  I also know that I have a great family, those at home, those I’m travelling with, and those I’ll be seeing in 5 hours-ish.  I look forward to laughing, crying, breathing, eating, crying some more, laughing some more, and saying “till we meet again” to my gramma.

In other words, I’m looking forward to family.

My Viao is a battery hog, and I’m down to 20%.  I’m not in one of those rows with the DC outlet under my seat, so I’ll sign off for now.

Just know that I love you all, and your words of support and encouragement you’ve shared with me and my family mean the world to us.

Remember… God loves you, always.

Oh… and I still think blogging form 30,000 feet is the cat’s pajamas!