Dri and I have recently made a new committment to do devotions together as a couple each morning.
Today we read/talked about Joseph. The reading was talking about staying away from temptation, but as often happens with me – I got off on a new chain of thoughts, ending up somwhere quite far from the original point.
I was thinking about Joseph and about the ups and downs in his life. While I haven’t been the second-in-command of a nation or thrown in prison – I’d like to think I can relate to having a roller coaster ride through life. I’m sure most people are that way. The thing that sticks out to me is that we don’t see anything to indicate that Joseph’s faith in God went up and down along with his fortunes. He was human, so I’m sure it happened somewhat, but…you get the point.
I’m going to jump to another train of thought, and I’ll tie ’em together in a second. Dri and I don’t fight much, don’t have many marital issues – and are generally pretty happy with our lives together. But recently, we’ve been kind of stressed. Dri’s finishing up her degree in Youth Ministry, and was job searching. We were having a hard time hearing God’s voice on which direction to go (I think we kept talking over the top of Him).
And that brings me back to the beginning. I realized why we decided to start doing devotions together. We were going through a rough time. It woke us up. When I’m doing fine, my spiritual life suffers. He’s our help in times of trouble – I don’t need anyone to remind me of that. What I have a hard time remembering is that He’s the provider of all the good times too. And honestly, considering that both Dri and I work in ministry-related fields, that’s pretty embarrasing. How can you forget the One that you’re living your life for?
By the way, Dri is now the Director of Youth Ministries at Elm Springs Methodist Church. We’re real happy with the way things ended up. BUT, what remains to be seen is…can we keep the development of our spiritual lives as a high priority now that things are smooth sailing again? That’s when it gets tough.
So I had no idea that you still wrote on this thing until you commented on mine. Actually, I wasn’t even sure if you were still alive. And from the looks of it, you write somewhat sparingly, but that’s okay. Good to hear from you man!