Sunday, January 02, 2011

A World-Record Hiatus


My First Wife and I have been busy since my last post. I’m glad I left behind a blog post that featured Jesus, cuz I can tell you: He is faithful. I appreciate that so many of My Faithful Readers have come back and kept coming back to check on us. We’re here; we’re good.

You know me, I’m a list maker. So let me give you a list of things that kept us busy the past three months.
  • Home
  • Church activities
  • Family and Friends
  • That pesky job
  • Bad mattresses (more than one)
  • Bad marriage (not ours)
  • Crying cuz I couldn’t figure out what to say in my prayers
  • The season to be jolly
  • About 7,500 freeway miles 
  • Sixteen- to eighteen-hour days and nights.
  • Tears
  • Heavy lifting
  • Illness and sickness
  • Several broken hearts
  • Police reports (Not recommended)
  • Divorce (Not us)
  • No walking since the first of August. Yikes!!!
On the plus side of busy-ness there was (think grace and grateful)
  • The election and the election victories
  • A fabulous writers’ conference (three days!).
  • Thanksgiving
  • New friends
  • The season to be jolly
  • Unexpected gifts
  • Church activities
  • A couple of pretty full moons
  • One spectacular sunrise from horizon to horizon
  • Other church’s cool Care Groups
  • Family, Friends (and Facebook)
  • Eating out more than we ever did before
  • Giving and receiving help
  • Blogging friends; Friendly bloggers
  • A 943-page technical manual written, approved and published! (See “That Pesky Job.”)
  • A blown out tire--just after I left the freeway--in the daytime
  • American auto insurance (see above)
  • Edy’s Peppermint Ice Cream  :)
And here’s the kicker
God is faithful. I think we tested Him a couple of times, and sure enough, He was faithful. His promises are true. As exhausted as we were the past 90 days, He lifted us up every day to take care of things. We still have some resting to do, but we’re ready to tackle 2011. I plan to blog more and to walk much more oftener. Stay tuned.

14 comments:

cassie-b said...

This is such a busy time of year. Glad for the good, and sorry about the not so good. Very sorry about the bad marriage/divorce (?). Makes for difficult days.

Have a good 2011. We're wishing you and your family all the best for the coming year.

Cas

Ileana said...

Sounds like a busy and emotional three months and I believe God has good things in store for all of your future's, including the ones involved in the bad marriage/divorce! It's time for new beginning!

Happy New Year, my friend. Thank you for being such an inspirational and everglowing light in my life!

Hugs to you and your primera esposa!

Forever, "Scarlet"

DBFrank said...

Well now, glad to see you're still kicking old friend. I'd wish you blessings, but apparently, you've got 'em in spades!
Ah.. what the hey - blessings to you and yours Paul.

kenju said...

I vote for the blogging more! Welcome back!

srp said...

Soooo glad to see you back... I missed you... indeed a lot of people missed you! Happy New Year!

Granny Annie said...

Nice to see you back Paul. Did you know our pal Jamie Dawn has returned also?

Glad you survived the obstacles in your path and are able to count your blessings as well. Don't you wonder how people who do not have faith to sustain them manage to withstand those harsh times?

Star said...

Happy New Year Paul, to you, and yours. It is good to hear from you.Make some time for that walking.

Holland said...

Welcome back Paul and a Happy New Year!

Jennie said...

I hate it when that happens. ;) I'm sorry you've had stress and tears, they do tend to derail a blog. Glad you're back. When is that date when things are gonna settle down and we can relax? Didn't they announce that on the news or sumpin? Ah well, God is faithful, we do know that...

j said...

I'm sorry that there have been tears and disappointments but SO thankful to read your praise for God. Isn't He wonderful? His ability to create beauty and order from our chaos and pain never ceases to amaze me. Granted, sometimes it takes a bit of time and distance to be able to see what He has done but we can always trust that it will happen.

I'm glad you are back. All is right in the blogging world now.

Blessings to you and your First Wife in 2011!

karen said...

Yep. I hear ya. :}

Anonymous said...

Enjoy 2011 to the fullest!! Life does hand us both good and bad stuff to deal with. God is with us through it all.
:-)

Ralph said...

I think I like your plus list the best.
Ralph

Cliff said...

I'm glad you came out the other side,probably with a few scars but wiser.