How Did You Do That?

The fireworks on July 4th went off as usual. 33 guests came for hamburgers and fireworks. Some little kids shot off fireworks for the first time. The bigger kids were off shooting their fireworks a few feet away. And the really big kids (menfolk) had the best time of all! Amazing how this works.

The clock is ticking. 13 days, 9 hours until I see my wife waiting for me at the Tagbilaran airport. It will have been only three months since we were married but it seems like an eternity since we were last together in the same country. A quick update on the status of Christie and kids coming to the U.S. The papers and documents have been sent to Homeland Security where they will do background checks on the "newest Halls" and determine they are kosher enough to apply for a visa. This usually takes 3-4 months. All in all I am still believing for the family to be here by Christmas. Thanksgiving would be nice, but Christmas is just fine too.

This week I have as a guest in my home - Pete Valdez. Pete is a pastor in the Philippines. More than this, Pete is a godly man and a good friend. In fact, he was one of the sponsors for Christie and me at our wedding. (Perhaps Christie sent Pete here to check me out to see if I was really as good as I appeared to be in April!) Well, as you can see by the photo, Pete has to earn his keep around here. Mowing grass and preaching. What more could a Filipino want to do while staying here. How about golf and shooting guns! This might be a week he doesn't forget.

Now for the "How Did You Do That?" story. I got a call this morning to fetch a set of spare car keys and get to Wal-Mart as soon as possible. Seems someone had flushed the car keys down the toilet! Now I must admit to laughing out loud when I heard the plea to come to the rescue. I was stumped as to how an adult could flush keys down a toilet. Maybe a 5 year old, but an adult? Reaching to give the spare set of keys I had to ask, "how did you do that?" It's really simple. Here's how. The lady is on the toilet and the cell phone rings. Reaching into the purse and moving stuff around to get the cell phone made the keys come alive and crawl out of the purse and jump into the toilet. Well there is only one thing to do and that is to reach in and retrieve the keys. So rising off the toilet to go after the keys, before you could say Jimminy Cricket, the automatic senor activates and a giant "Whoosh" whisked the keys out of sight! Who would have thought about the automatic sensor? Next time she will!

God is surely good on every front. There is always something to cause somebody somewhere to get despondent as they grouse about. But God who is always good and always has good counsel tells us to "Rejoice always" and to "Be joyful always". So I choose to heed his advice and look at the gracious goodness of our Heavenly Father all around. As I do this, I find my 'eyes of faith' are sharpened and my perspective is always shifting into alignment with God's perspective. I may not do this perfectly and consistently, but I am better at this than I used to be before I made a conscious decision to heed this admonition. I find God's grace changing my natural view on things and for this I am grateful.

Blessings,