Getting Married!!!

This past weekend I asked Vanessa to be my wife and she finally said "Yes"!!!! All that wearing her down finally paid off! Actually, the kids and I asked her on Friday night. I had Levi and the rest of the kids ask her to answer a four part riddle that went like this:
1. What do you call the thing you need in order to give all your worldly possessions to someone after you die? WILL
2. If I were to spell tulip: TLIP....what is missing? YOU
3. What is Mike's grandmas name? MARY
4. Who do you want to spend the rest of your life with? MIKE

Then I got down on my knee and asked her and gave her the ring. She had tears well up in her eyes and she said "YES!!!"
We are getting married on July 7, 2007 at 7 pm and since there is 7 people in our family it is rather fortuitous. We are getting married at Community of Hope and will live in our new home together in our half duplex with 6 rooms. Just enough for us all. We are very happy and excited and there is much to do before it all happens. We need to renovate this house and make the kitchen functional. We need to downsize and get the kids rooms painted and prepared. WE MUST BUY A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!! We have a wedding to plan and prepare. And since it is a second wedding we are keeping it small. Just a few friends and family members which is going to be very difficult for us to choose. So these next months are going to be very busy for us as a family. Pray for us as we make these changes and build our family. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement!

Job's Friends

Lately I have been reading the book of Job in the New Living Translation. It has been a very exhilirating experience! Now I know some of you may find that hard to believe but it is true! For years I have listened and even spoke on the fact that Job's friends were a bunch of jerks. He was going through the darkest time in his life and their words were death to him. His friends were to support him in his darkest hours and their words heaped more pain on him. However this view of Job's friends is somewhat simplistic and does not really do justice to what the actually did. These guys went to be with their friend and sat with him for days. They listened to him and tried to be good friends. They sat in silence and ministered to him by their presence. Where they went wrong was when they opened their mouths! I was struck by the fact that these friends actually were trying to be good friends to him. That fact is somewhat lost in the simplistic understanding that "with friends like Job's who needs enemies" version of this parable. I see a real need to deal with people in grace who are in distress. To not jump to the conclusions that we or I so often do. We do not know the private hell that many people live in on a daily basis. Whether it be financial struggles, failed relationships, health issues or simply hard times. We need to take a moment to "ask a question" rather than "make a pronouncement". We need to be willing like Job's friends to go and simply sit with those who grieve and invite them to share openly and freely without fear or reservation. I know when I look at my own life that I have failed at that time and time again but it is no excuse to simply start again. Others may fail me but that does not give me license to fail them. And when I do I must make amends and try again. God help us all.