Friday, April 21, 2006

What's Good?

My teenagers are in the habit of saying "What's good?" all the time now. It's kind of the cool thing to say, I think, at this point in school. As in, "Jess?" and to that she would reply, "What's good?" If someone called my name, I'd say, "Huh?" or "Yeah?" or "Yes?" or "What?" depending on who was calling me and/or what kind of mood I was in.

When they first starting saying that, it irritated me. Upon further consideration, I think I like the phrase. "What's good?" It indicates that the respondent expects something positive to be said.

Okay, then. What IS good?

Today I completed my second workout in a row. Yesterday was my first. I did one mile each time. I feel great. Nothing like releasing those endorphins to get the day going right. There's just something about Leslie Sansone's DVD's that I can deal with. A lot of the other workout gurus make me want to throw stuff at the t.v. while I'm watching them. But Leslie's personality is one I can live with while I'm trying to get in a workout.

I was working out regularly back in December and January, before I had to stop and ended up having surgery. I think picking back up on the walking has been easier because it wasn't all that long ago that I had been regularly doing 3 mile walks. My body has retained some of the muscle strength that I had been building up in those workouts. I wasn't out of breath or overtired.

So, that's good.

Out of the clear blue sky came an offer for a 16-hour a week second job. What's great about it, is that it's in the same area where our toy shop is, so I would still see my family on the weekends. In fact, they can bring me lunch or I can go hang out with them on my breaks. The person who made the offer is someone we all know and trust. Not only that, but he sought me out, asked me to work, not visa/versa. I had worked for him once when one of his workers called in on a Saturday, and his sales doubled that day. (Maybe it's because I have the gift of gab and I'm a really good salesperson or it's that it got busier than usual that day. Either way, I was there, so I got the credit.)

So, he offered to pay me considerably more than his usual starting wage if I committed to working for him for the next two months. Our shop hours and his shop hours are the same, so we can all ride in together and close up at the same time.

I find this whole thing just another neat example of how God meets our needs if we trust in Him. I didn't go looking for this, but here it is, anyway. The super cool thing is that the extra income ends up being more than the cost of our second house payment each month.

I've got the longest list of these type of experiences in my life. Sometimes things didn't happen in the way I was hoping or as fast as I wanted, but things have always worked out one way or another. I guess if we snapped our fingers and expected God to work for us, he'd just be a cosmic Santa Claus in our lives. I think the whole idea of walking a Christian walk is learning to serve, not be served. But He sure has been better to me than I deserve.

Just now I was typing this, thinking that one of the only drawbacks to the second job thing was that Rob and I had bought tickets to a 2 o'clock game in Columbus this Saturday to watch an OSU football spring game. We ended up giving the tickets to his uncle because we couldn't do both. Plus we have some repairs that we need to get done to BOTH of our cars before we take them on any big trips, so we thought the drive would be pushing the card a little on that. I think both of us just wanted to do something fun with the family, but we thought not only were we blessing his uncle with the tickets, but making the mature decision as well.


Anyway, while I was typing this blog post, an email arrived. It was from my boss' daughter, saying she has tickets (and a parking pass) to Saturday's 7 p.m. Dayton Dragons' game if we would like them. She is in charge of administrating all recreational functions in her office. So she said when no one had signed up for these tickets, she thought of us right away. That's only a 40ish minute ride for us, and we get off work at 5 p.m. on Saturday. We all enjoy those games, having gone to several in the past few years.

I started thinking to myself that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think. This reminds me just how well He knows us and is concerned even with what seems like little stuff in our lives. :) I'm amazed, as always, by His love.

So, that's what's good. Plus the sun is coming out, the fog we had earlier is lifting....and oh yeah: It's Friday!

Hope your weekend is awesome!




2 comments:

neicybelle said...

What an encouraging entry! I've heard the kids I deal with say that, but I never put any thought into it...I'm happy for you that God is reaching out and showing you how much He really loves you and your family! Thank you for sharing that!

Pam said...

I'm so glad you're a Christian and that you posted on my blog - I love your reminders to me about how much God is able, how much I should lean on Him.

I want to. I just.....don't want to too. If that makes sense. Thanks for the reminder TO serve, not BE served.

Have a blessed weekend!