Life Lesson #1

No matter how ugly you think life is, there are some things that are unchangeably good.

• 1. God, in his all-knowing, all-seeing wisdom. Sometimes it seems like He's playing a board game with us. Sometimes we are sent directly to jail, without collecting $200, and other times He gives us Boardwalk and Park Place with hotels on both.
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• 2. A family that loves you. I know that a caring family sometimes seems like a thing of the past here in the states, but I was reminded of how utterly important it is that we don't let family fall by the wayside.
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• 3. Friends that are right there for you when it feels like you've been sent directly to jail. There were many times that I had to chose to accept their help, even when I felt completely undeserving of their services (lawn mowing, house cleaning, etc), gift cards, money, food, taking us out to eat, and many other things.
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• 4. Probably the most amazing thing is how all three of the above tie together. It's all part of the board game of life.
  

Oh, The Lessons Of Life

It's amazing how God inserts things into our life to teach us different life lessons. Over the past 5 months, I've experienced this multiple times. With my wife on bed rest, at home and at the hospital, and having a son born 13 weeks premature, there were many opportunities for these valuable lessons to be inserted into my life. Were all of them fun to go through? No. Were all of them comfortable? No. Would I trade any of them for a normal summer? Absolutely not!
Although I wouldn't even close wish that anyone would go through what we did this summer, I really wish everyone could learn what we've learned. So, over the next couple of weeks, in an effort to give you the lessons without the pain, I am going to give you the blog version. Hopefully, the 'No Pain, No Gain' philosophy won't apply here.